H. Maacke et al., Over-expression of wild-type Rad51 correlates with histological grading ofinvasive ductal breast cancer, INT J CANC, 88(6), 2000, pp. 907-913
Breast cancer is a major cause of cancer-related death in women. BRCA1 tumo
ur-suppressor function is abolished in sporadic breast cancer by down-regul
ation of the protein level. This down-regulation inversely correlates with
tumour grading. BRCA1 is part of a multiprotein complex, which also contain
s the recombination factor Rad51. Here we describe that in contrast to BRCA
1, histological grading of sporadic invasive ductal breast cancer significa
ntly correlates with over-expression of wild-type Rad51. These data suggest
that in addition to the absence of the tumour-suppressor protein BRCA1, ov
er-expression of wild-type Rad51 also contributes to the pathogenesis of a
significant percentage of sporadic breast cancers and that other mechanisms
than mutations must be responsible for this altered expression. Int. J. Ca
ncer 88:907-913, 2000. (C) 2000 Wiley-Liss, Inc.