Differential Expression of ZFX Gene in Gastric Cancer
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Differential expression of ZFX gene in gastric cancer 1 2,3, 1 PARVANEH NIKPOUR , MODJTABA EMADI-BAYGI *, FAEZEH MOHAMMAD-HASHEM , MOHAMAD REZA MARACY4 and SHAGHAYEGH HAGHJOOY-JAVANMARD5 1Department of Genetics and Molecular Biology, Faculty of Medicine, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran 2Department of Genetics, Faculty of Basic Sciences, 3Research Institute of Biotechnology, Shahrekord University, Shahrekord, Iran 4Department of Community Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, 5Applied Physiology Research Center, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran *Corresponding author (Fax, +98-311-7753480; Email, [email protected]) Gastric cancer accounts for 8% of the total cancer cases and 10% of total cancer deaths worldwide. In Iran, gastric cancer is the leading cause of national cancer-related mortality. Most human cancers show substantial heterogeneity. The cancer stem cell (CSC) hypothesis has been proposed to reconcile this heterogeneity. ZFX encodes a member of the krueppel C2H2-type zinc-finger protein family that is required as a transcriptional regulator for self-renewal of stem cells. A total of 30 paired tissue gastric samples were examined for ZFX gene expression by quantitative real-time RT-PCR. Although the relative expression of the gene was significantly high in 47% of the examined tumour tissues, its expression was low in the others (53%). There was a statistically significant association between the ZFX gene expression and different tumour types and grades. This is the first report that shows ZFX was differentially expressed in gastric cancer. Of note, it was overexpressed in diffused-type and grade III gastric tumoural tissues. Due to this, ZFX may have the potential to be used as a target for therapeutic interventions. [Nikpour P, Emadi-Baygi M, Mohammad-Hashem F, Maracy MR and Haghjooy-Javanmard S 2012 Differential expression of ZFX gene in gastric cancer. J. Biosci. 37 85–90] DOI 10.1007/s12038-011-9174-2 1. Introduction majority of Iranian patients with gastric cancer are being diagnosed in advanced stages of the disease, Gastric cancer accounts for 8% of the total cancer cases and conventional therapeutic methods do not provide any and 10% of total cancer deaths worldwide (Jemal et al. survival benefit (Malekzadeh et al. 2009). Therefore, 2011). In Iran, there is a wide variation in incidence across early cancer detection is a significant way to reduce gastric different geographical areas, as it is the most common cancer mortality. cancer in the north and northwest of the country Most human cancers show substantial heterogeneity in (Malekzadeh et al. 2009). According to the Iranian cancer immunological and genetic profiles, proliferation potentials registry program, gastric cancer is the leading cause of and differentiation capacities (Visvader and Lindeman national cancer-related mortality (The National Cancer 2008). The cancer stem cell (CSC) hypothesis has been Registry 2008). Ongoing studies indicate that a high proposed to reconcile this heterogeneity. CSCs are defined H. pylori prevalence, high dietary concentration of salt and as a subset of tumour cells that possesses stem cell smoking are the main environmental risk factors of gastric properties, including self-renewal and differentiation to the cancer in Iran (Malekzadeh et al. 2009). Moreover, the cells that comprise the bulk of the tumour (Visvader and Keywords. Cancer stem cell; gastric cancer; ZFX http://www.ias.ac.in/jbiosci J. Biosci. 37(1), March 2012, 85–90, * Indian Academy of Sciences 85 Published online: 8 January 2012 86 Parvaneh Nikpour et al. Lindeman 2008), and have crucial roles in tumour initiation, 30 were tumoural specimens of gastric from the same metastasis and resistance to anticancer therapies (Ebben et al. patients (table 1). The experimental procedures were 2010). Although, CSCs have been identified for many approved by the Ethics Committee of Isfahan University of malignancies like melanoma (Fang et al. 2005), breast Medical Sciences. Prior to participation, the patients’ written (Al-Hajj et al. 2003), lung (Kim et al. 2005), head and informed consents were obtained by Iran Tumoral Bank. neck (Prince et al. 2007), liver (Lau et al. 2011), prostate (Collins et al. 2005), and colon cancers (Dalerba et al. 2007), 2.2 Gene expression analyses in gastric cancer isolation and amplification of CSCs from cell lines or tumour tissue specimens is methodologically Total RNA was extracted from powdered tissues using difficult (Takaishi et al. 2009). Furthermore, at the present Qiazol reagent (Qiagen, Hilden, Germany) and purified via time, the study of current molecular markers for gastric RNeasy columns (Qiagen, Hilden, Germany). For elimina- progenitor cells and gastric CSCs has been mostly limited to the mouse models (Qiao and Gumucio 2011). However, tion of any genomic DNA, on-column DNase treatment was examining the expression of the genes involved in stem performed by using DNase set (Qiagen, Hilden, Germany). cell characteristics, e.g. stem cell self-renewal genes, may The quality of RNA was verified by gel electrophoresis, and help characterize CSCs and eventually result in the develop- the concentration of RNA was assessed by optical density ment of novel drugs and treatment procedures specifically at 260 nm using nanodrop (Biochrome, USA). cDNA targeting CSCs. was synthesized using MMLV Reverse Transcriptase Located on the X chromosome, ZFX encodes a (Fermentas, Vilnius, Lithuania) with oligo-dT primers as member of the krueppel C2H2-type zinc-finger protein described previously (Mowla et al. 2005). Quantitative real- family that is structurally similar to a related gene on the time RT-PCR was performed using specific primers for ZFX Y chromosome (ZFY) (Schneider-Gädicke et al. 1989a, b). and TBP (Nikpour et al. 2009) (as an internal control) Studies in mouse embryonic and adult hematopoietic stem mRNAs (table 2) with the Maxima SYBR Green/ROX cells showed that this gene is required as a transcriptional qPCR Master Mix (Fermentas, Vilnius, Lithuania) and run regulator for self-renewal of both stem cell types, but it is on the Rotor-gene 6000 (Qiagen, Hilden, Germany). The dispensable for growth and differentiation of their progeny PCR cycling conditions for the genes included an initial (Galan-Caridad et al. 2007). Recently, it has been shown denaturation step at 95°C for 10 min, followed by 45 that ZFX is up-regulated in cancer stem-like cells in amplification cycles consisting of denaturation at 95°C for esophageal carcinoma cell lines (Huang et al. 2009). 20 s, annealing at 55°C for 20 s and an extension at 72°C Furthermore, ZFX is overexpressed in prostate adenocar- for 20 s. The identity of PCR products were further verified cinoma (Tricoli and Bracken 1993), diffuse large B-cell on a 1.5% agarose gel, stained with ethidium bromide, and lymphoma (DLBCL) and follicular lymphoma (FL) visualized under the ultraviolet light. Moreover, to be (Sakhinia et al. 2007). ensured that the actual gene of interest (ZFX) is getting Due to the crucial role of this gene in stem cell self- renewal and the lack of data concerning with the expression of ZFX in gastric cancer, we evaluated its Table 1. A brief description of patients with gastric cancer expression in 30 paired tumoural and non-tumoural gastric Characteristics Values* tissue samples by using quantitative real-time RT-PCR. Our results demonstrated that ZFX was differentially Mean age, years 65.4±13.54 expressed in gastric cancer tissue samples in which its Age range, years 33-83 expression showed statistically significant difference Sex between the diffused and intestinal tumour types as well Male 18 (60) as different tumour grades. Female 12 (40) Tumour types 2. Subjects, materials and methods Diffused 15 (50) Intestinal 15 (50) 2.1 Subjects Tumour grades I 10 (33.3) The gastric tumoural and non-tumoural tissue samples II 8 (26.7) were obtained from Iran Tumoural Bank (Tehran, Iran). III 12 (40) Totally, 30 paired tissue samples were examined for gene expression; of which 30 were adjacent non-tumoural and * Values in parentheses are percentages. J. Biosci. 37(1), March 2012 Expression of ZFX gene in gastric cancer 87 Table 2. Sequences of the PCR primer sets Gene Designation Primer sequence Size of amplicon ZFX hZFX-FP 5′-GGTTCTTGCTATATTGCCC-3′ 130 bp hZFX-RP 5′-GCTGGGAAAGACATAGAAGA-3′ TBP* hTBP-FP 5′-CAACAGCCTGCCACCTTAC-3′ 128 bp hTBP-RP 5′-CACAGCCTATTCAGAACACCA-3′ *Previously designed by Nikpour et al. (2009). Figure 1. Optimization of quantitative real-time RT-PCR. (a) Electrophoresis of ZFX and TBP (as an internal control) PCR products on the agarose gel. (b) A unique melting curve without primer dimers showing specific amplification of ZFX and TBP on real-time RT-PCR. (c) A part of a sequence electropherogram of the ZFX PCR product in which the cDNA from a glioblastoma sample was used as template. (d) Relative expression of ZFX in different tissue specimens. (e) Amplification curves of a cDNA dilution series for determination of amplification efficiencies of ZFX and TBP. J. Biosci. 37(1), March 2012 88 Parvaneh Nikpour et al. amplified, the PCR products of breast cancer and glioblas- using specific primers for human ZFX and TBP genes. toma samples were sequenced (Bioneer, South Korea). Electrophoresis of the PCR products on agarose gel Relative gene expression was calculated using the standard demonstrated single bands with the expected sizes for the curve method. amplified ZFX (130 bp) and TBP (128 bp) segments (figure 1a). Analysis of gene expression using real-time 2.3 Statistical analyses PCR showed a unique melting curve without primer dimers for each of the examined genes (figure 1b), which was All measurements were done in at least triplicates and the further confirmed by agarose gel separation and staining. results were statistically analysed using Student’s t-test and The result of PCR product sequencing of a glioblastoma ANOVA. The SPSS program version 16.0 was utilized for sample (as a positive control) has been shown in figure 1c statistical analyses and p-value less than 0.05 was consid- and its BLAST against human transcripts showed 100% ered as statistically significant.