Ubiquitin-conjugating enzyme 2C (UBE2C) contributes to ubiquitin-mediated proteasome degradation of cell cycle progression in breast cancer. Microcalcification (MC) is the most common mammographic feature of early breast cancer. In this study, we evaluated whether UBE2C could be a tumor marker of early breast cancer with MC found on screening mammography. UBE2C protein and mRNA expression were measured in breast core biopsy pairs of MC and adjacent non-MC breast tissue from each subject. Immunohistochemistry revealed UBE2C positivity in 69.4% of MC samples and 77.6% negativity in non-MC samples (p<0.0001). On RT-qPCR, 56.1% of malignant MC lesion samples showed high mRNA level of UBE2C and 80% of benign MC lesion samples showed a low level of UBE2C (p = 0.1766). We investigated the carcinogenic role of UBE2C in MCF-7 breast cancer cells with UBE2C knockdown; UBE2C knockdown downregulated cell proliferation and activated the cellular apoptosis pathway to inhibit cell colony formation. Furthermore, UBE2C expression was associated with that of carcinogenic genes human epidermal growth factor receptor type 2 (HER2), cellular c-Ki-ras2 proto-oncogene (KRAS), vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), CXC chemokine receptor 4 (CXCR4), C-C motif chemokine 5 (CCL5), neural precursor cell expressed, developmentally downregulated 9 (NEDD9) and Ras homolog family member C (RhoC). UBE2C may be a marker for diagnosis of nonpalpable breast lesions but not benign or malignant tumors in mammography core biopsies. Suppression of UBE2C may be a potential therapy target in breast cancer.
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