Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women. In recent years, there have been studies on the effectiveness of cathelicidins, one of the antimicrobial peptides, especially in breast cancer. Cathelicidin expression is regulated by a rather complex mechanism. Under normal conditions, vitamin D induces the release of cathelicidin from human neutrophils via Neutrophil Elastase (NE). Elafin, on the other hand, inhibits cathelicidin as a Neutrophil Elastase inhibitor. However, the effect of these molecules on tumor progression is unclear. In our study, we aimed to investigate the effects of vitamin D and Elafin on cathelicidin in breast cancer patients. Cathelicidin, Elafin, and Vitamin D Receptor levels in the pre and post-operative blood samples of control patients and patients diagnosed with breast cancer were analyzed by western blot method. According to our findings, it was observed that cathelicidin levels were especially high and elafin levels were low in the preoperative group. Since an inflammatory environment occurs in the presence of a tumor, there is an increase in vitamin D receptors and elafin in the postoperative group. It was thought that the low Elafin in the preoperative group caused vitamin D to secrete more Cathelicidin and increased the progression of the tumor, but the formation of cathelicidin was inhibited due to the increase in Elafin levels in the postoperative period. Thus, it was concluded that cathelicidin, which has an effect on the development of breast cancer, can be controlled by Elafin and Vitamin D receptors.
Key words: Breast cancer, cathelicidin, elafin, vitamin D receptor
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