OTOR in breast carcinoma as a potent prognostic predictor correlates with cell proliferation, migration, and invasiveness

Otoraplin (OTOR), recognized as an important cochlear gene, has a predicted secretory signal peptide sequence and harbors a high degree of cross-species conservation. However, its role in tumor progression is relatively unclear, especially in breast carcinoma (BC). This study investigated the clinicopathological significance of OTOR in breast infiltrating ductal carcinoma (IDC) with high metastasis to uncover its biological function in BC. OTOR was highly overexpressed in BC tissues and cells compared with normal samples. OTOR overexpression was associated with certain clinicopathological characteristics and poorer prognosis (overall survival; OS) of patients with breast IDC. As determined using CCK-8, colony formation, wound-healing, and Transwell assays, silencing OTOR using siRNA impeded BC-cell proliferation, migration, and invasiveness, which may have resulted from inactivating the mitogen-activated protein kinase - extracellular-signal-regulated kinase pathway. These results indicate that OTOR plays a crucial role in the progression of and prognosis for BC, which could help to identify future therapeutic targets for treating BC patients.