Over-expression of tubulin gamma 1 in human endometrial cancer.
Gynecologic cancers including cancers of the endometrium are a clinical problem (1-4). We mined published microarray data (5, 6) to discover genes associated with endometrial cancers by comparing transcriptomes of the normal endometrium and endometrial tumors from humans. We identified tubulin gamma 1, encoded by TUBG1, as among the most differentially expressed genes, transcriptome-wide, in cancers of the endometrium. TUBG1 was expressed at significantly higher levels in endometrial tumor tissues as compared to the endometrium. Importantly, in human endometrial cancer, primary tumor expression of TUBG1 was correlated with recurrence-free survival in white patients with low mutational burden, and in black patients with high mutational burden. TUBG1 may be a molecule of interest in understanding the etiology or progression of human endometrial cancer.