人原发性肝癌中的转甲状腺素蛋白(Transthyretin)基因

本文从人正常肝对原发性肝癌的递减式cDNA文库(Subtracting cDNA libra-ry)中筛选出pG8cDNA克隆.Northem杂交证明它在正常肝中高度转录,而在9例肝癌中转录严重受阻遏.9例肝癌DNA MspI酶切杂交信号提示,4例肝癌中该基因存在部分DNA片段的丢失.在另7对肝癌及癌旁组织样本中,有4例肝癌中该基因同样存在部分片段丢失.cDNA序列分析证明它与转甲状腺素蛋白(Transthyretin,TTR)基因的编码区全部同源.本文首次报道了在人肝癌中TTR基因转录严重受阻遏及在基因结构上可能存在丢失或缺陷,提示TTR基因可能是人肝癌中基因缺陷的一个标记或抗癌基因之一.     

TRANSTHYRETIN (PREALBUMIN) GENE IN HUMAN PRIMARY HEPATIC CANCER

From a subtracting cDNA library constructed from normal liver versus human primary hepatic cancer (PHC), a cDNA clone pG8 was isolated. Using it as a probe, RNA extracted from one human liver and 9 PHC samples were analyzed by Northern hybridization. As expected, its mRNA was highly expressed in liver; however, the expression was strikingly suppressed in PHC. Only weak signal was observed in 2 out of 9 PHC, while no signal was detectable in the other 7 samples. Utilizing pG8 as a probe, DNA from the same PHC specimens was analyzed after MspI digestion and Southern hybridization. Deletion of DNA fragment was observed in 4 out of 9 samples. In further study of cancer and non-cancerous liver from other 7 PHC patients, similar deletion of DNA fragments in cancer was observed in 4 out of 7 samples. After sequencing of the clone of 572 bp, it was unexpectedly found that pG8 was completely homologous to the coding sequence of transthyretin, TTR gene, as TTR (or prealbumin) gene has been known to be linked to a