GHRH-R Expression Level under Hyperglycaemic Like Culture Conditions in Breast Cancer Cell Lines

Abstract

Background: Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a complex disease and increments in its prevalence have been reported in the last few years. DM does not only affect the cells by disturbing glucose metabolism, but also it leads to serious health disorders such as cardiac ischemic diseases, hypertension, and infertility. Intriguingly, DM was also found to mediate cancer development and progression. The exact mechanism of how hyperglycemia affects cancer cells is still obscure. Growth hormone releasing hormone receptor (GHRH-R) is a G-protein coupled receptor that was shown recently to enhance breast cancer cells proliferation. Moreover, a recent work revealed that GHRH-R is upregulated in diabetes mellitus in a rat model. It was of interest to investigate whether hyperglycemic conditions have any impact on the GHRH-R expression in breast cancer cell lines, which might then affect the cell proliferation.