Differential expression of the Wolf-Hirschhorn syndrome candidate 1, WHSC1 (NSD2/KMT3G), 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 H3K36 methyltransferase Wolf-Hirschhorn syndrome candidate 1, WHSC1, also known as Nsd2 or KMT3G, when comparing primary tumors of the breast to the tissue of origin, the normal breast. WHSC1 expression in primary tumors of the breast was significantly higher than in normal breast tissue, and relapse-free survival in breast cancer patients was significantly worse in patients with high tumor expression of WHSC1 than in patients with low tumor expression of WHSC1. WHSC1 may be of relevance to initiation, maintenance or progression of cancers of the female breast.