Calcification in breast cancer is closely associated with ER+/HER2- breast cancer, and identifying key molecular markers is crucial for early diagnosis and treatment. We integrated bioinformatics analyses of data from the TCGA and GEO databases with in vitro experiments on MCF-7 and MDA-MB-231 cell lines to explore the role of CA12 in breast cancer calcification. Our analysis identified 132 calcification-related genes, with CA12 highlighted as a significant biomarker. In vitro experiments showed that osteogenic induction promoted calcific nodule formation in ER-positive MCF-7 cells with concomitant CA12 upregulation, though this increase did not reach statistical significance; notably, ER-negative MDA-MB-231 cells exhibited comparable CA12 upregulation without mineralization. We propose integrating CA12 detection with imaging to boost diagnostic accuracy for early ER+/HER2- breast cancer, enabling timely endocrine therapy and improving prognosis. This study offers new insights for early breast cancer diagnosis and individualized treatment, along with proposing CA12 as a potential biomarker for breast cancer calcification.
Zhu et al. (Sat,) studied this question.