Upregulation of the double-stranded RNA binding protein DGCR8 in invasive ductal breast carcinoma

High-throughput experimental studies have indicated that the miRNAome is globally downregulated in various types of malignancy, and dysregulation of miRNAs processing component(s) is one possible mechanism for this phenomenon. Despite the progression in identifying cellular functions of Digeorge Syndrome Critical Region 8 (DGCR8) in miRNAs biogenesis, the role of altered expression of DGCR8 in the pathogenesis of invasive ductal breast carcinoma (IDC) has not yet been fully investigated. The objective of the present study was to evaluate DGCR8 mRNA expression in seventy fresh invasive ductal breast carcinomas and matched adjacent non-neoplastic tissues using quantitative real-time PCR and to assess the value of clinicopathological parameters on its expression. Our findings revealed that DGCR8 mRNA expression is upregulated in more than two-thirds of the cancerous specimens (68.66%) when compared to adjacent non-neoplastic tissue. This difference is statistically significant (P