We sequenced the 5′ UTR of the estrogen-related receptor gamma gene ( ERR -γ) in ~500 patient and volunteer samples and found that longer alleles of the (AAAG) n microsatellite were statistically and significantly more likely to exist in the germlines of breast cancer patients when compared to healthy volunteers. This microsatellite region contains multiple binding sites for a number of transcription factors, and we hypothesized that the polymorphic AAAG-containing sequence in the 5′ UTR region of ERR-γ might modulate expression of ERR-γ. We found that the 369 bp PCR product containing the AAAG repeat drove expression of a reporter gene in estrogen receptor positive breast cancer cells. Our results support a role for the 5′ UTR region in ERR-γ expression, which is potentially mediated via binding to the variable tandem AAAG repeat, the length of which correlates with breast cancer pre-disposition. Our study indicates that the AAAG tetranucleotide repeat polymorphism in ERR-γ gene 5′ UTR region may be a new biomarker for genetic susceptibility to breast cancer.
/lp/springer-journals/a-long-aaag-repeat-allele-in-the-5-utr-of-the-err-gene-is-correlated-8EiwEVmuu7