Background: Despite recent breakthroughs in genetic profiling, breast cancer metastasis is still a considerable challenge affecting treatment and overall patient survival. Therefore, the discovery of target alternatives to restrain metastasis is urgently needed. In the current study, we aimed to identify novel targets driving metastasis and elucidate the underlying mechanisms.

Methods: We initially identified differentially expressed genes between primary breast tumors and metastatic breast cancer patients using datasets from the GEO database. Subsequently, we validated these findings by examining the changes in the expression of genes and their direction in external datasets. Furthermore, we identified the significantly enriched pathways associated with gene expression. We analyzed PFKP expression patterns in 100 samples (normal, primary breast tumor, and metastasis) using RT-qPCR, and survival analyses were performed.

 

Results: We identified 34 differentially expressed genes in metastatic breast tumors, with CCDC6, PKIA, UACA, and PFKP significantly upregulated (p < 0.05). PFKP was highly expressed in metastasis, negatively correlated with ER/PR/HER2 status, and linked to glycolysis-related genes (ENO1, PGM1, LDHB, PGK1). GSEA highlighted its role in glucose metabolism, hypoxia, and angiogenesis. RT-qPCR confirmed PFKP (p < 0.001) and Ki67 (p < 0.001) upregulation in 100 breast cancer samples. PFKP correlated with Ki67, and ROC analysis (AUC >71%) indicated a strong predictive value. Higher PFKP expression was associated with poor survival, supporting its role as a prognostic marker.

Conclusion: The current study showed that PFKP promotes tumor metastasis through hypoxia-mediated altered glycolysis and can be a potential prognostic marker used to identify breast cancer metastasis.