Possible association of thioredoxin and p53 in breast cancer.

Expression of thioredoxin (TRX), a dithiol-reducing enzyme, and mutations of p53 have been detected in various cancer tissues. We recently reported that TRX-dependent redox regulation plays a crucial role in DNA binding activity of p53. In this study, we investigated the possibility of functional association between TRX and p53 in breast cancer. First, we examined the expression of TRX and mutated p53 in 100 primary breast cancer tissues by immunohistochemistry. Expression of TRX was detected in cases of 84/100 (84%) and expression of p53, which means existence of mutated p53, in cases of 63/100 (63%). TRX positive cases was 89% (56/63) in mutant p53 positive cases. Next, we examined the expression of TRX and p53 in breast cancer cell line MCF-7 cells after CDDP treatment or irradiation. CDDP treatment or irradiation augmented expression of TRX and p53 in MCF-7 cells by western blotting. Immunofluorescence cell analysis by confocal microscopy showed that CDDP treatment induced translocation of TRX into nuclei. These results suggest the possible association of TRX with p53-dependent function including DNA repair in breast cancer.