SLC34A2 as a novel marker for diagnosis and targeted therapy of breast cancer.

The purpose of this study was to estimate the role of the SLC34A2 gene in breast cancer. A total of 146 samples were collected from breast cancer tissues and their adjacent normal breast tissues. Reverse transcription and real-time polymerase chain reaction were used to estimate gene expression levels. There was a significantly increased gene expression of SLC34A2 (normal tissues: 6.71±0.77; tumour tissues: 10.29±0.80) among breast cancer tissues compared with normal tissues. However, there was no significant association between overall survival and the gene expression level of SLC34A2. Moreover, a significant overexpression of CA125 (normal tissues: 7.26±0.62; tumour tissues: 10.51±0.58) in breast cancer tissues and a significant correlation between SLC34A2 and CA125 gene expressions were found. Our results suggested SLC34A2 to be involved in the development of breast cancer; this gene may therefore be a novel marker for the detection of breast cancer and act as a target gene in therapeutic strategies.