Current Issues in Pharmacy and Medical Sciences · Published 2026-03-31 · DOI 10.12923/cipms-2026-0008
Breast cancer is one of the leading causes of cancer-related mortality among women worldwide. The Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway, particularly the WNT3A ligand, plays a pivotal role in mammary gland homeostasis and tumorigenesis. However, its expression profile in malignant and benign breast lesions remains unclear. This study aimed to evaluate the expression level of the WNT3A gene in ductal breast carcinoma compared with benign fibroadenoma tissues and to assess its potential diagnostic and prognostic value. Breast tissue samples were obtained from 31 women with ductal carcinoma and 14 women with fibroadenoma. WNT3A expression was analyzed using quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction, with β-actin as the endogenous control. Statistical analyses included the ΔCt method, the Mann-Whitney U test, Pearson correlation, logistic regression, and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis. WNT3A expression was significantly lower in ductal carcinoma tissues than in fibro-adenoma samples (fold change = 0.32; p = 0.043). ROC analysis demonstrated moderate discriminatory power (AUC = 0.695; specificity = 0.87; sensitivity = 0.46). No significant correlations were observed between WNT3A expression and age, tumor size, lymph node involvement, or prognostic stage. Logistic regression revealed a non-significant trend toward increased cancer risk associated with decreased WNT3A expression (OR = 1.442; p = 0.153). Downregulation of WNT3A may differentiate malignant from benign breast lesions and may reflect early dysregulation of the Wnt signaling pathway. Although not associated with clinical stage or TNM classification, WNT3A shows potential as a diagnostic biomarker and warrants further investigation.
Abstract from DOAJ. Public domain (CC0 1.0).
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