APC基因结构及功能异常与人类肿瘤的关系

腺瘤样结肠息肉病易感基因是１９９１年从结肠癌中克隆到的一个新的抑癌基因,定位于５号染色体长臂。ＡＰＣ基因产物功能不茂清楚,发现其可调节ｃ－ｍｙｃ基因ｍＲＮＡ的成熟和ｒａｓ基因的表达,与蛋白质相互作用有关。     

c－erbB2／neu扩增诱导人前列腺癌细胞的转移能力

用突变的ｃ－ｅｒｂＢ２／ｎｅｕ癌基因转染人类ＰＣ３细胞系,使转化克隆Ｎ３５具有癌转移能力,在接种到裸鼠后能向肺、骨髓等远处转移．各项实验指标证实,外源性的ｎｅｕ基因已整合至人类细胞的染色质ＤＮＡ中,并获得基因扩增和高表达．结果提示ｎｅｕ癌基因与肿瘤的发展和转移能力的形成有密切的关系．     

与肿瘤转移有关的基因的研究进展

与肿瘤转移有关的基因的研究进展姚旻,周信达（上海医科大学肝癌研究所,上海２０００３２）关键词癌基因,抑癌基因,肿瘤转移相关基因肿瘤转移过程复杂,包括①肿瘤细胞通过表面受体和细胞外基质发生特异性粘附;②肿瘤细胞本身或局部微生态系统（ｍｉｃｒｏｅｃｏｓｙ...     

白血病抑癌基因的克隆与相关药物开发

白血病是造血系统的一种恶性疾病 ,俗称血癌 ,该疾病在我国的发病率为 0 . 0 0 2 %～0 .0 0 4 % ,具有较高的死亡率 ,严重地危害着人类的身心健康 .目前 ,医学上尚无有效的方法根治白血病 .最新的研究表明 ,白血病致病原因是一系列基因突变的结果 ,抑癌基因是这一系列基因突变的最后一道防线 ,守住这道防线是防止癌症发生的关键 .因此 ,克隆和鉴定出抑癌基因 ,运用基因治疗手段根治白血病 ,在理论和实践上都具有十分重要的意义 .湖南师范大学生命科学学院特聘教授吴秀山博士长期从事白血病抑癌基因的克隆和研究 ,在白血病抑癌基因克隆和鉴定…     

水稻线粒体丝氨酸羟甲基转移酶基因的电子克隆

采用基于EST的电子克隆方法得到了一段长1611bp的cDNA序列,以此为信息探针搜索HTGs数据库,找到一个与之高度匹配的基因组DNA序列——OSJNBa0057G07克隆。用FGENESH分析该克隆中的联配区域得到一个包含14个外显子和13个内含子的基因。该基因位于水稻第3染色体物理图谱的136．0～137．6cM区域。推导的ORF编码498个氨基酸,经BLASTP搜索SWISS-PROT数据库和蛋白序列的亚细胞定位显示,该基因编码水稻的线粒体丝氨酸羟甲基转移酶(mSHMT)。该基因受到EST序列的完全支持,其中不乏来自盐胁迫、稻瘟病菌侵染等逆境处理的EST序列,推测该基因与水稻对逆境的应答反应有关。     

Nramp基因家族及其功能

Ｎｒａｍｐ基因家族首先在动物中发现并得以克隆。小鼠 (Ｍｕｓｍｕｓｃｕｌｕｓ)对细胞内病原微生物侵染所具有的抗性或敏感性是受 1号染色体上显性基因Ｂｃｇ、Ｉｔｙ或Ｌｓｈ控制的[1] ,由此将该类基因命名为Ｎｒａｍｐ(ｎａｔｕｒａｌｒｅｓｉｓｔａｎｃｅ ａｓｓｏｃｉａｔｅｄｍａｃｒｏｐｈａｇｅｐｒｏｔｅｉｎ)基因[2 ] 。编码Ｎｒａｍｐ这一膜整合蛋白家族的基因 ,在植物、真菌乃至细菌中也得以克隆。对其功能的分析表明 ,该家族基因可能通过转运金属离子而使生物体产生抵抗病菌侵染的能力。目前 ,国内还未见到有关Ｎｒａｍｐ基因…     

玉米苹果酸脱氢酶基因的分离与结构分析

以一个玉米（ＺｅａｍａｙｓＬ．）杂种一代超亲表达的ｃＤＮＡ片段为探针,从玉米幼苗期ｃＤＮＡ文库中筛选到一个全长１２８７ｂｐ的ｃＤＮＡ克隆。序列分析表明,该ｃＤＮＡ编码细胞质苹果酸脱氢酶,推导的氨基酸序列与龙须海棠（Ｍｅｓｅｍｂｒｙａｎｔｈｅｍｕｍ　ｃｒｙｓｔａｌｌｉｕｍ　Ｌ．）及拟南芥（Ａｒａｂｉｄｏｐｓｉｓ　ｔｈａｌｉａｎａ（Ｌ．）Ｈｅｙｎｈ．）同一编码基因的氨基酸序列同源性分别为９０％和８４％。这是禾谷类作物中首次克隆的编码细胞质苹果酸脱氢酶的完整基因。     

FHIT基因及其表达

ＦＨＩＴ基因是由Ｏｈｔａ等１９９６年克隆的一个拟定的抑癌基因,定位于染色体３ｐ１４．２,其ｃＤＮＡ长约１．１ｋｂ,含１０个外显子,ＦＨＩＴ基因包含脆性部位ＦＲＡ３Ｂ和ｔ（３;８）易位断裂处,编码的蛋白质是一种典型的Ａｐ３Ａ水解酶,ＦＨＩＴ的缺失和人类众多肿瘤的发生发展相关。     

人Xp21．1－p21．3上3．5MbYAC重叠群构建及物理图谱分析

用Ａｌｕ－ＰＣＲ指纹图谱法分析了人Ｘｐ２１．１－ｐ２１．３上一系列的酵母人工染色体（ｙｅａｓｔａｒｔｉｆｉｃｉａｌｃｈｒｏｍｏｓｏｍｅ,ＹＡＣ）克隆,发现其中的两个ＹＡＣ克隆构成包含ＤＸＳ１６６位点的重叠群,而且这一重叠群与以前构建的包含ＤＭＤ基因全序列的ＹＡＣ重叠群相连接,ＹＡＣ克隆末端探针交叉杂交证实了这一重叠,使这一ＹＡＣ重叠群至少延伸至ＤＸＳ１６６位点,形成一个跨度为３．５Ｍｂ的ＹＡＣ重叠群。基于这些重叠的ＹＡＣ克隆绘制了这一区域的大尺度限制酶切图谱,并在这一图谱上定位了ＤＸＳ１６６位点,从而确定了ＤＸＳ１６６位点与ＤＭＤ基因的物理关系。这一工作为ＤＭＤ基因的５＇远端调控作用研究及该区域未知基因的克隆奠定了基础。     

bcl－2基因家族对细胞凋亡的调节

ｂｃｌ－２基因为一原癌基因,因其在淋巴瘤和白血病中出现重排而得名。近年研究表明,ｂｃｌ－２基因是细胞凋亡的重要抑制基因,它的过度表达是癌症和自身免疫病发生的重要原因。最近又发现了几个与ｂｃｌ－２基因有不同程度同源性的调节基因,也在细胞凋亡中发挥作用。     

Integration of DNA copy number alterations and transcriptional expression analysis in human gastric cancer

Background

Genomic instability with frequent DNA copy number alterations is one of the key hallmarks of carcinogenesis. The chromosomal regions with frequent DNA copy number gain and loss in human gastric cancer are still poorly defined. It remains unknown how the DNA copy number variations contributes to the changes of gene expression profiles, especially on the global level.

Principal Findings

We analyzed DNA copy number alterations in 64 human gastric cancer samples and 8 gastric cancer cell lines using bacterial artificial chromosome (BAC) arrays based comparative genomic hybridization (aCGH). Statistical analysis was applied to correlate previously published gene expression data obtained from cDNA microarrays with corresponding DNA copy number variation data to identify candidate oncogenes and tumor suppressor genes. We found that gastric cancer samples showed recurrent DNA copy number variations, including gains at 5p, 8q, 20p, 20q, and losses at 4q, 9p, 18q, 21q. The most frequent regions of amplification were 20q12 (7/72), 20q12–20q13.1 (12/72), 20q13.1–20q13.2 (11/72) and 20q13.2–20q13.3 (6/72). The most frequent deleted region was 9p21 (8/72). Correlating gene expression array data with aCGH identified 321 candidate oncogenes, which were overexpressed and showed frequent DNA copy number gains; and 12 candidate tumor suppressor genes which were down-regulated and showed frequent DNA copy number losses in human gastric cancers. Three networks of significantly expressed genes in gastric cancer samples were identified by ingenuity pathway analysis.

Conclusions

This study provides insight into DNA copy number variations and their contribution to altered gene expression profiles during human gastric cancer development. It provides novel candidate driver oncogenes or tumor suppressor genes for human gastric cancer, useful pathway maps for the future understanding of the molecular pathogenesis of this malignancy, and the construction of new therapeutic targets.     

Linking genomics to immunotherapy by reverse immunology--'immunomics' in the new millennium

The disclosure of the human genome sequence and rapid advances in genomic expression profiling have revolutionized our knowledge about molecular changes in malignant diseases. Rapidly growing gene expression databases and improvements in bioinformatics tools set the stage for new approaches using large-scale molecular information to develop specific therapeutics in cancer. On one hand, the ability to detect clusters of genes differentially expressed in normal and malignant tissue may lead to widely applicable targeting of defined molecular structures. On the other hand, analyzing the 'molecular fingerprint' of an individual tumor raises the possibility of developing customized therapeutics. One approach to use the emerging new datasets for the development of novel therapeutics is to identify genes that are specifically expressed in tumors as targets for immune intervention. This review will focus on the process from in silico analysis of expression databases and screening of potential candidate genes by bioinformatics to the in vitro and in vivo analysis to determine the immunogenicity of candidate tumor antigens. Basic biological principles of 'reverse immunology' as well as technical advantages and difficulties will be addressed.     

Gene therapy for pancreatic cancer targeting the genomic alterations of tumor suppressor genes using replication-selective oncolytic adenovirus

In order to develop an effective therapeutic intervention for patients with pancreatic cancer, we examined the genetic alternations of pancreatic cancer. Based on these results, we are developing a new gene therapy targeting the genetic character of pancreatic cancer using mutant adenoviruses selectively replication-competent in tumor cells. Loss of heterozygosity (LOH) of 30% or more were observed on chromosome arms 17p (47%), 9p (45%), 18q (43%), 12q (34%), and 6q (30%). LOH of 12q, 17p, and 18q showed the significant association with poor prognosis. These data strongly suggest that mutation of the putative suppressor genes, TP53 and SMAD4 play significant roles in the disease progression. Based on this rationale, we are developing a new gene therapy targeting tumors without normal TP53 function. E1B-55kDa-deleted adenovirus (AxE1AdB) can selectively replicate in TP53-deficient human tumor cells but not cells with functional TP53. We evaluated the therapeutic effect of this AxE1AdB on pancreatic cancer without normal TP53 function. The growth of human pancreatic tumor in SCID mice model was markedly inhibited by the consecutive injection of AxE1AdB. Furthermore, AxE1AdB is not only the strong weapon but also useful carrier of genes possessing anti-tumor activities as a virus vector specific to tumors without normal TP53 function. It was reported that uracil phosphoribosyl transferase (UPRT) overcomes 5FU resistance. UPRT catalyzes the synthesis of 5-fluorouridine monophosphate (FUMP) from Uracil and phosphoribosylpyrophosphate (PRPP). The antitumor effect of 5FU is enhanced by augmenting 5-fluorodeoxyuridine monophosphate (FdUMP) converted from FUMP, which inhibits Thymidylate Synthetase (TS). The therapeutic advantage of restricted replication competent adenovirus that expresses UPRT (AxE1AdB-UPRT) was evaluatedin an intra-peritoneal disseminated tumor model. To study the anti-tumor effect of AxE1AdB-UPRT/5FU, mice with disseminated AsPC-1 tumors were administered the adenovirus, followed by the 5FU treatment. It was shown that the treatment with AxE1AdB-UPRT/5FU caused a dramatic reduction of the disseminated tumor burden without toxicity in normal tissues. These results revealed thatthe AxE1AdB-UPRT/5FU system is a promising tool for intraperitoneal disseminated pancreatic cancer.     

Netrin-1受体UNC5C和DCC抑癌作用的研究进展

大肠癌是一种常见的消化道恶性肿瘤。在西方发达国家,其发病率居恶性肿瘤的第二位,在世界范围内居第三位,在我国其发病率呈上升趋势。大肠肿瘤的发生发展是多基因参与、多步骤、多阶段的复杂过程,在这个过程中,抑癌基因具有重要的作用。神经生长因子1（Netrin-1）受体UNC5C和DCC是近年来在大肠癌中发现的可能的抑癌基因,靶向作用Netrin信号通路不仅对晚期大肠癌有治疗可能,而且对早期癌甚至晚期腺瘤都有治疗可能。     

Analysis of Molecular Cytogenetic Alteration in Rhabdomyosarcoma by Array Comparative Genomic Hybridization

Rhabdomyosarcoma (RMS) is the most common pediatric soft tissue sarcoma with poor prognosis. The genetic etiology of RMS remains largely unclear underlying its development and progression. To reveal novel genes more precisely and new therapeutic targets associated with RMS, we used high-resolution array comparative genomic hybridization (aCGH) to explore tumor-associated copy number variations (CNVs) and genes in RMS. We confirmed several important genes by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (QRT-PCR). We then performed bioinformatics-based functional enrichment analysis for genes located in the genomic regions with CNVs. In addition, we identified miRNAs located in the corresponding amplification and deletion regions and performed miRNA functional enrichment analysis. aCGH analyses revealed that all RMS showed specific gains and losses. The amplification regions were 12q13.12, 12q13.3, and 12q13.3–q14.1. The deletion regions were 1p21.1, 2q14.1, 5q13.2, 9p12, and 9q12. The recurrent regions with gains were 12q13.3, 12q13.3–q14.1, 12q14.1, and 17q25.1. The recurrent regions with losses were 9p12–p11.2, 10q11.21–q11.22, 14q32.33, 16p11.2, and 22q11.1. The mean mRNA level of GLI1 in RMS was 6.61-fold higher than that in controls (p = 0.0477) by QRT-PCR. Meanwhile, the mean mRNA level of GEFT in RMS samples was 3.92-fold higher than that in controls (p = 0.0354). Bioinformatic analysis showed that genes were enriched in functions such as immunoglobulin domain, induction of apoptosis, and defensin. Proto-oncogene functions were involved in alveolar RMS. miRNAs that located in the amplified regions in RMS tend to be enriched in oncogenic activity (miR-24 and miR-27a). In conclusion, this study identified a number of CNVs in RMS and functional analyses showed enrichment for genes and miRNAs located in these CNVs regions. These findings may potentially help the identification of novel biomarkers and/or drug targets implicated in diagnosis of and targeted therapy for RMS.     

Array CGH Analysis of Paired Blood and Tumor Samples from Patients with Sporadic Wilms Tumor

Wilms tumor (WT), the most common cancer of the kidney in infants and children, has a complex etiology that is still poorly understood. Identification of genomic copy number variants (CNV) in tumor genomes provides a better understanding of cancer development which may be useful for diagnosis and therapeutic targets. In paired blood and tumor DNA samples from 14 patients with sporadic WT, analyzed by aCGH, 22% of chromosome abnormalities were novel. All constitutional alterations identified in blood were segmental (in 28.6% of patients) and were also present in the paired tumor samples. Two segmental gains (2p21 and 20q13.3) and one loss (19q13.31) present in blood had not been previously described in WT. We also describe, for the first time, a small, constitutive partial gain of 3p22.1 comprising 2 exons of CTNNB1, a gene associated to WT. Among somatic alterations, novel structural chromosomal abnormalities were found, like gain of 19p13.3 and 20p12.3, and losses of 2p16.1-p15, 4q32.5-q35.1, 4q35.2-q28.1 and 19p13.3. Candidate genes included in these regions might be constitutively (SIX3, SALL4) or somatically (NEK1, PIAS4, BMP2) operational in the development and progression of WT. To our knowledge this is the first report of CNV in paired blood and tumor samples in sporadic WT.