Figure 3From: Dysregulated expression of Fau and MELK is associated with poor prognosis in breast cancerIncreased MELK transcript levels in breast cancer are associated with poor patient survival. (a) RNA was isolated from tumour and adjacent normal tissue (n = 11 patients), was reverse transcribed, and MELK and ALAS1 transcript levels were determined using Taqman assays and real-time PCR using a relative standard curve protocol (cDNA from T-47D cells as standard). The MELK/ALAS1 transcript ratio is elevated in tumour tissue. *P = 0.022; paired Student's t test on log-transformed data. Inset: scattergram of data. (b) Kaplan–Meier survival curve showing significantly reduced overall breast-cancer-specific survival in invasive breast cancer with higher MELK expression levels (P = 0.001).Back to article page