Klotho is differentially expressed in primary tumors and brain metastases in humans with breast cancer.
Metastasis to the brain is a clinical problem in patients with breast cancer (1-3). We mined published microarray data (4, 5) to compare primary and metastatic tumor transcriptomes to discover genes associated with brain metastasis in patients with metastatic breast cancer. We report here the differential expression of Klotho, encoded by KL, in the primary tumors and brain metastases in humans with breast cancer. KL mRNA was present at significantly reduced quantities in both primary tumors and brain metastatic tissues as compared to normal breast tissues. These data combined suggest that down-regulation of Klotho is a conserved event during transformation of breast tissues and progression to central nervous system metastasis and further point to potential importance of Klotho repression during progression of human breast cancer.