Expression of Twist and Wnt in Human Breast Cancer

• Published in: Anticancer research Vol. 24; no. 6; pp. 3851 - 3856
• Main Authors: WATANABE, Osamu, IMAMURA, Hiroshi, SHIMIZU, Tadao, KINOSHITA, Jun, OKABE, Toshihiro, HIRANO, Akira, YOSHIMATSU, Kazuhiko, KONNO, Soichi, AIBA, Motohiko, OGAWA, Kenji
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Attiki International Institute of Anticancer Research 01-11-2004
• Subjects: Biological and medical sciences; Breast Neoplasms - genetics; Breast Neoplasms - metabolism; Breast Neoplasms - pathology; Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic; Gynecology. Andrology. Obstetrics; Humans; Immunohistochemistry; Intercellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins - biosynthesis; Intercellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins - genetics; Mammary gland diseases; Medical sciences; Nuclear Proteins - biosynthesis; Nuclear Proteins - genetics; Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; Transcription Factors - biosynthesis; Transcription Factors - genetics; Tumors; Twist-Related Protein 1; Up-Regulation; Wnt Proteins; Wnt1 Protein; Wnt2 Protein; Human; Twist; Mammary gland diseases; Cancerology; Breast cancer; Malignant tumor; Wnt
• ISSN: 0250-7005; 1791-7530

Twist, a transcription factor of the basic helix-loop-helix class, has been suggested to have oncogenic properties. We reported
Twist expression was regulated by Wnt/β-catenin signaling and that both Wnt-1 and Twist could contribute to mammary tumorigenesis.
The aim of this study was to demonstrate the expression of Twist, Wnt-1 and Wnt-2 in human breast cancer tissue. We examined
the expression in patients with breast cancer by RT-PCR and immunohistochemistry. RT-PCR of twenty-three pairs of cancer and
normal breast tissue revealed that Twist was up-regulated in 69.6% (16/23) of the cancer lesions and 21.7% (5/23) of the normal
breast tissues. Wnt-2 was up-regulated in all of the cancer lesions and 13.0% (3/23) of the normal breast tissues, whereas
Wnt-1 was expressed in both the cancer and normal breast tissues of the five cases examined. Immunohistochemical analyses
revealed that Twist was positively expressed in 52.2% (12/23) of the cancer lesions and 34.8% (8/23) of the normal breast
tissues. Twist and Wnt-2 are highly expressed in breast cancer tissue, suggesting that both molecules could play important
roles in mammary carcinogenesis.