Tubulin is a heterodimer of α and β subunits, both existing as isotypes differing in amino acid sequence encoded by different genes. Specific isotypes of tubulin have associations with cancer that are not well understood. Previous studies found that βII-tubulin is expressed in a number of transformed cells and that this isotype is found in cell nuclei in non-microtubule form. The association of βII expression and its nuclear localization with cancer progression has not previously been addressed. We here used a monoclonal antibody to βII to examine patients with colorectal cancer and found that patients whose tumors over-express βII have a greatly decreased life expectancy which is even shorter in those patients with nuclear βII. Our results suggest that βII-tubulin may facilitate cancer growth and metastasis and, to accomplish this, may not need to be in microtubule form. Furthermore, βII expression and localization could be a useful prognostic marker. We also found that βII appears in the nuclei of otherwise normal cells adjacent to the tumor. It is possible therefore that cancer cells expressing βII influence nearby cells to do the same and to localize βII in their nuclei by an as yet uncharacterized regulatory pathway.
Keywords: cancer prognosis; colorectal cancer; microtubules; nuclear tubulin; βII-tubulin.