Expression patterns of miR-429/FN1 and miR-592/TOP2A in breast cancer: Clinicopathological correlations and diagnostic value

Abstract

Breast cancer remains the most common cancer and a leading cause of cancer-related mortality among women worldwide. Identifying reliable biomarkers is essential for improving disease diagnosis and outcomes. This study aimed to evaluate the expression levels of miR-429 and miR-592, along with their respective target genes, FN1 and TOP2A, in breast cancer tissues and to explore their clinical relevance. miR-429 and miR-592 were significantly downregulated ( P < 0.01), while FN1 and TOP2A were upregulated ( P < 0.001) in breast cancer tissues compared to normal tissues. FN1 expression was higher in HER2-positive tumors, and TOP2A was the only marker significantly associated with lymph node metastasis ( P < 0.05). However, these associations were not statistically significant after adjustment for age and BMI using multivariable robust linear regression ( P > 0.05). The expression levels of miR-429 and miR-592 were correlated only in non-tumor tissues ( P <0.001), whereas no significant correlations were observed between marker expression levels or with clinical parameters in either tumor or non-tumor tissues ( P > 0.05). ROC analysis demonstrated high diagnostic potential for TOP2A (AUC = 0.842) and moderate diagnostic potential for FN1 (AUC = 0.75), whereas miR-429 (AUC = 0.664) and miR-592 (AUC = 0.659) showed only modest discriminative ability and may serve as potential auxiliary biomarkers rather than independent diagnostic markers.