Chemotherapy resistance remains the main challenge facing breast cancer patients
today. Understanding the underlying mechanisms and molecules involved is crucial to
help overcome this obstacle. In this study, we screened the transcriptome of MCF7
parental cell lines and two variant resistant cell lines MCF7 4xAC and MCF7
4xAC+4xPAC, using NGS Illumina NovaSeq6000 and compared their gene
expression profiles. Twelve significant differentially expressed RT-PCR verified
genes (DEGs) out of 84 DEGs selected, including DAB2IP, ICAM1, MAP2K4,
MYD88, OLFM2, EFNA3, PRKD1, ABCG2, ARHGEF19, BAG3, MYEOV and
ITGA5. The DEGs were annotated in the Gene Ontology and KEGG databases. The
annotation of the function of the DEGs in the KEGG database revealed pathways
involved in resistance, including the MAPK and PI3K-AKT signaling pathways.
Protein-protein interaction network was applied to analyze the association of the 12
DEGs with chemotherapy resistance and revealed significant pathways such as MAPK
and TNF signaling pathways. These DEGs are involved in many biological activities
such as cell proliferation, survival, migration and invasion, and apoptosis. The
interactions between these DEGs and the chemotherapy resistance phenomenon need
to be further studied at a functional level. We believe they could be promising
therapeutic targets to be explored to develop new treatment options.