title: Clinicopathological significance of β -tubulin isotype III gene expression in breast cancer patients.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The molecular classification of breast cancer mainly focuses on estrogen receptor (ER), Progesterone receptor (PgR), and Human Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor 2(HER2/Neu) status detected by immunohistochemistry (IHC) analysis. The β -tubulin isotype III (TUBB3) gene was thought to be a marker of taxane resistance or cancer aggressiveness.
  
  
  METHODS
  To evaluate the clinicopathological significance of TUBB3 expression in breast cancer patients, we measured TUBB3 mRNA levels in 92 breast cancer patients by Quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR), and examined their correlation with ER, PgR, and HER2 status detected by IHC.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We observed a significant positive correlation between the TUBB3 mRNA expression and the immunohistochemical positivity of both PgR (p= 0.000) and HER2 (p= 0.001). In addition, TUBB3 mRNA expression was associated with lymph nodes status (P= 0.008) and tumor stages (0.029), but no correlation was found with other clinicopathological features, such as age, pathohistological grades and tumor size.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In conclusion, TUBB3 expression correlated significantly with molecular markers of breast cancer, such as PgR and HER2, suggesting that TUBB3 mRNA level facilitate the identification of a subset of patients who respond to Taxane treatment in addition to hormonal therapy and trastuzumab.
authors.affiliation: Department of Thyroid and Breast Surgery, Jinan Military General Hospital of PLA, Jinan, Shandong, China.
authors.forename: Qingqing
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: He
authors.affiliation: Zhangjiang Center for Translational Medicine, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Bo
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Peng
authors.affiliation: Department of Thyroid and Breast Surgery, Jinan Military General Hospital of PLA, Jinan, Shandong, China.
authors.forename: Dayong
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Zhuang
authors.affiliation: Department of Thyroid and Breast Surgery, Jinan Military General Hospital of PLA, Jinan, Shandong, China.
authors.forename: Lei
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Xiao
authors.affiliation: Department of Thyroid and Breast Surgery, Jinan Military General Hospital of PLA, Jinan, Shandong, China.
authors.forename: Luming
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zheng
authors.affiliation: Department of Thyroid and Breast Surgery, Jinan Military General Hospital of PLA, Jinan, Shandong, China.
authors.forename: Ziyi
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Fan
authors.affiliation: Department of Thyroid and Breast Surgery, Jinan Military General Hospital of PLA, Jinan, Shandong, China.
authors.forename: Jian
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.affiliation: Zhangjiang Center for Translational Medicine, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Benmei
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.affiliation: Zhangjiang Center for Translational Medicine, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Cheng
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.affiliation: Zhangjiang Center for Translational Medicine, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Jiangman
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.affiliation: Zhangjiang Center for Translational Medicine, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Liming
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: Department of Thyroid and Breast Surgery, Jinan Military General Hospital of PLA, Jinan, Shandong, China.
authors.forename: Peng
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.affiliation: Department of Thyroid and Breast Surgery, Jinan Military General Hospital of PLA, Jinan, Shandong, China.
authors.forename: Lei
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Hou
authors.affiliation: Department of Thyroid and Breast Surgery, Jinan Military General Hospital of PLA, Jinan, Shandong, China.
authors.forename: Fang
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.affiliation: Department of Thyroid and Breast Surgery, Jinan Military General Hospital of PLA, Jinan, Shandong, China.
authors.forename: Guowei
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Zhao
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology* / Q000628:therapy; D018270:Carcinoma, Ductal, Breast / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology* / Q000628:therapy; D018275:Carcinoma, Lobular / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology* / Q000628:therapy; D003131:Combined Modality Therapy; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007124:Immunoenzyme Techniques; D008875:Middle Aged; D060787:Neoplasm Grading; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D011379:Prognosis; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000235:genetics; D060888:Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction; D018719:Erb-b2 Receptor Tyrosine Kinases / Q000378:metabolism; D011960:Receptors, Estrogen / Q000378:metabolism; D011980:Receptors, Progesterone / Q000378:metabolism; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D014404:Tubulin / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D012333:RNA, Messenger; D018719:Erb-b2 Receptor Tyrosine Kinases; D011960:Receptors, Estrogen; D011980:Receptors, Progesterone; D014404:Tubulin; C498585:TUBB3 protein, human; C508053:ERBB2 protein, human
keywords: Breast cancer; ER; HER2; PgR; β -tubulin isotype III