Differential expression of plexin A3 in cancers of the breast.
Breast cancer affects women at relatively high frequency (1). We mined published microarray datasets (2, 3) to determine in an unbiased fashion and at the systems level genes most differentially expressed in the primary tumors of patients with breast cancer. We report here significant differential expression of the gene encoding plexin A3, PLXNA3, when comparing primary tumors of the breast to the tissue of origin, the normal breast. PLXNA3 mRNA was present at significantly higher quantities in tumors of the breast as compared to normal breast tissue. Analysis of human survival data revealed that expression of PLXNA3 in primary tumors of the breast was correlated with distant metastasis-free survival in patients with HER2+ type cancer. PLXNA3 may be of relevance to initiation, maintenance or progression of cancers of the female breast.