Differential expression of ZW10 interacting kinetochore protein 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 the ZW10 interacting kinetochore protein, ZWINT, when comparing primary tumors of the breast to the tissue of origin, the normal breast. ZWINT was also differentially expressed in the tumor cells of patients with triple negative breast cancer. ZWINT 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 ZWINT in primary tumors of the breast was correlated with overall survival in patients with basal and luminal A subtype cancer, but in a contrary manner, demonstrating a complex relationship between correlation of primary tumor expression with overall survival based on molecular subtype. ZWINT may be of relevance to initiation, maintenance or progression of cancers of the female breast.