Thymopoietin (
TMPO) is an inner nuclear membrane
protein, the coding gene named equally, can give arise to six
isoforms by alternative splicing. This gene has been found up regulated in several types of
cancer. At present work, we evaluated the
TMPO isoforms generated by alternative splicing as well as the
protein signal detection in
breast cancer samples.
TMPO expression was analyzed by immunohistochemistry in tissue microarray containing 46 breast tissue samples including normal (n = 6), benign lesions (n = 18) (
fibroadenomas (n = 6), fibrocystic changes (n = 6), ductal
hyperplasias (n = 6)) and
breast carcinoma (n = 22).
Isoforms -α, -β and -γ of
TMPO were evaluated using RT-PCR; clinical-pathological correlation analysis were done by mean of X(2). Neither the normal nor the benign lesions of the breast showed positive
TMPO immunodetection, whilst 45 % of the
breast carcinomas were immunopositive (p = 0.000), nine of ten positives
carcinomas correspond to the
Luminal A subtype. Further, alpha
isoform was present in all breast samples analyzed; however, beta and gamma
isoforms were only present in ten (p = 0.003) and 17 (p = 0.000), respectively, in the
breast cancer samples. According with the present data, we suggest that TMPOβ and -γ
isoforms could provide a potential reliable diagnostic marker for
breast cancer.