Solute carrier transporters in bovine ocular squamous cell carcinoma (BOSCC)

Abstract

The solute carrier (SLC) transporter superfamily, a critical group of proteins involved in the transport of a wide range of substrates, including ions and metabolites, across cellular membranes. The dysregulation of SLC transporters has been linked to cancer-related processes such as proliferation, apoptosis, and metastasis. However, the comprehensive expression and functional implications of the SLC transporter superfamily in Bovine ocular squamous cell carcinoma BOSCC remain underexplored. So, we analysed the SLC transporter family in BOSCC, a common ocular tumor in Hereford breeds because they exhibit facial depigmentation, a trait selected by breed standards. Ocular tumor samples  in bovine with BOSCC and healthy animals were analysed for the transcriptome sequencing. The bioinformatic analysis was performed in R.  A list of differentially expressed genes was obtained using EdgeR and selected by false discovery rate (FDR) < 0.05 and ∣log2​FC∣>1.  The results showed differential gene expression between BOSCC and control tissues of 26 members of the SCL family. 14 of them were upregulated in tumor tissue and 12 were downregulated showing the possible implication of several members of the SLC family in tumor development. Among these, we found that those with higher expression in tumor tissue were: SLC7A10, SLC27A2, SLC2A5, SLC6A3 and SLC13A5 with logFC values of 5 and with lower expression SLC12A1, SLC27A6, SLC28A2, SLC16A12 and SLC25A42 with logFC values between -8 to -3. There are no previous studies on the gene expression of the SLC family in BOSCC. Therefore, continuing with these analyses will provide very useful information for future breeding selection programs.