Low Trichorhinophalangeal Syndrome 1 Gene Transcript Levels in Basal-like Breast Cancer Associate with Mesenchymal-to-epithelial Transition

ObjectiveTo investigate trichorhinophalangeal syndrome 1 gene (TRPS-1) expression patterns in different subtypes of breast cancer and its correlations with other genes and survival using microarray data sets.MethodsThe transcripts of TRPS-1 and its role in survival in breast cancer were analyzed using published microarray data sets—Netherlands Cancer Institute (NKI) cohort and Wang cohort.ResultsTRPS-1 expression was lower in basal-like breast cancer. The mRNA levels of TRPS-1 negatively correlated with Slug (Pearson correlation coefficient=−0.1366, P=0.0189 in NKI data set and Pearson correlation coefficient=−0.1571, P=0.0078 in Wang data set), FOXC1 (Pearson correlation coefficient=−0.1211, P=0.0376 in NKI data set and Pearson correlation coefficient=−0.1709, P=0.0037 in Wang data set), and CXCL1 (Pearson correlation coefficient=−0.1197, P=0.0399 in NKI data set and Pearson correlation coefficient=−0.3436, P<0.0001 in Wang data set), but positively correlated with BRCA1 (Pearson correlation coefficient=0.1728, P=0.0029 in NKI data set and Pearson correlation coefficient=0.1805, P=0.0022 in Wang data set). Low TRPS-1 expression associated with poor overall survival (hazard ratio 1.79, 95% CI of ratio 0.9894 to 3.238, P=0.054) and relapse-free survival (hazard ratio 1.913, 95% CI of ratio 1.159 to 3.156, P<0.05). The low TRPS-1 mRNA levels predicted poor outcome in breast cancer patients by the 70-gene signature.ConclusionThe strong expression of TRPS-1 may serve as a good prognostic marker in breast cancer.