Figure 4

Expression of the five HAX1 splice variants detected by semi-quantitative PCR. A. Expression of the five HAX1 splice variants detected in the normal breast tissue reveals significant differences in expression levels, showing the prevalence of splice variant I. Normal breast tissue cDNA, splice variants I-V, 30 and 40 cycles. B. HAX1 splice variants expression in all 15 patients. The most marked difference was detected for variant III, the amplification of which was observed only in tumors in eight cases. In the remaining 7 cases no amplification was detected, except for patient 13, where a weak band was detected in the normal tissue sample, but not in the tumor sample. Higher amplification in tumors can be also observed in some patients for variant V (patients 1, 5, 7, 8, 11,13).