Department of Breast and Endocrine Surgery, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Kumamoto University, 1-1-1 Honjo Kumamoto, Kumamoto 860-8556, Japan.
BMC Cancer. 2013 Apr 30;13:217. doi: 10.1186/1471-2407-13-217.
Aurora A kinase, a centrosomal serine/threonine kinase which plays an essential role in chromosome segregation during cell division, is commonly amplified and/or over expressed in human malignancies. Aurora A is suggested to be one of the proliferation parameters which is an independent prognostic factor for early invasive breast cancer patients; however the individual clinical or prognostic relevance of this gene has been a matter of debate.
A comprehensive analysis of Aurora A at the levels of gene expression, gene copy number and protein expression was performed for 278 primary invasive breast cancer patients; and the correlation with clinical outcomes were investigated.
Aurora A gene expression level not only correlated with gene amplification, but was also significantly associated with several clinicopathological parameters and patient prognosis. Patients with higher nuclear grade, negative progesterone receptor status and higher Ki67 expressed higher levels of Aurora A mRNA, which was associated not only with poor relapse-free survival (RFS) but was also found to be a significant multivariate parameter for RFS. Aurora A protein expression was also significantly associated with clinicopathological characteristics; lymph node status, nuclear grade, estrogen receptor status and Ki67, but not with prognosis. By contrast, Aurora A gene amplification correlated with tumor size, nuclear grade and Ki67, and had no prognostic value.
Our data indicate that Aurora A gene expression is an effective tool, which defines both tumor proliferation potency and patient prognosis.
极光激酶 A（Aurora A kinase）是一种中心体丝氨酸/苏氨酸激酶，在细胞分裂过程中对染色体分离起着至关重要的作用，在人类恶性肿瘤中通常被扩增和/或过表达。极光激酶 A 被认为是增殖参数之一，是早期浸润性乳腺癌患者的独立预后因素；然而，该基因的个体临床或预后相关性一直存在争议。
对 278 例原发性浸润性乳腺癌患者进行了极光激酶 A 在基因表达、基因拷贝数和蛋白表达水平的综合分析，并对其与临床结局的相关性进行了研究。
极光激酶 A 基因表达水平不仅与基因扩增相关，而且与多个临床病理参数和患者预后显著相关。核分级较高、孕激素受体阴性和 Ki67 表达较高的患者，其 Aurora A mRNA 水平较高，不仅与无复发生存率（RFS）较差相关，而且是 RFS 的显著多变量参数。Aurora A 蛋白表达也与临床病理特征显著相关；淋巴结状态、核分级、雌激素受体状态和 Ki67，但与预后无关。相比之下，极光激酶 A 基因扩增与肿瘤大小、核分级和 Ki67 相关，与预后无关。
我们的数据表明，极光激酶 A 基因表达是一种有效的工具，它可以定义肿瘤的增殖能力和患者的预后。
