Expression of c-erbB-2 in human esophageal carcinoma cells: overexpression correlated with gene amplification or with GATA-3 transcription factor expression.
Amplification and expression of the c-erbB-2 protooncogene was studied in 60 primary human esophageal carcinomas and 12 cell lines established from the carcinomas. Amplification of the c-erbB-2 gene was found in 4 out of 60 (6.7%) and 1 out of 12 (8.3%) DNA samples from the primary carcinomas and cell lines, respectively. Overexpression of c-erbB-2 gene product, as determined by both Northern blot hybridization and immunohistochemical analysis, was found in the cells with c-erbB-2 amplification, but not in normal esophageal mucosae or in primary esophageal carcinomas without gene amplification. In contrast, c-erbB-2 overexpression was clearly observed in 7 cell lines in which gene amplification was not found. We analyzed expression of the GATA-3 transcription factor in the carcinoma cell lines and found that the level of GATA-3 mRNA expression showed very good correlation with that of c-erbB-2 gene expression. This observation suggested that the GATA-3 transcription factor and c-erbB-2 protein play important roles in the process of immortalization and/or maintenance of the transformed phenotype of human esophageal carcinoma cells in vitro.
Shiga
K
K
Department of Otolaryngology, Tohoku University School of Medicine, Sendai, Japan.
Shiga
C
C
Sasano
H
H
Miyazaki
S
S
Yamamoto
T
T
Yamamoto
M
M
Hayashi
N
N
Nishihira
T
T
Mori
S
S
D000230:Adenocarcinoma / Q000235:genetics*; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000235:genetics*; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins / Q000032:analysis*; D066246:ErbB Receptors / Q000032:analysis* / Q000235:genetics; D004938:Esophageal Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics*; D005260:Female; D005784:Gene Amplification / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008679:Metaplasia / Q000235:genetics; D008875:Middle Aged; D011518:Proto-Oncogene Proteins / Q000032:analysis* / Q000235:genetics; D011519:Proto-Oncogenes; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000032:analysis; D018719:Erb-b2 Receptor Tyrosine Kinases; D014157:Transcription Factors / Q000032:analysis*
D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; D066246:ErbB Receptors; D011518:Proto-Oncogene Proteins; D012333:RNA, Messenger; D018719:Erb-b2 Receptor Tyrosine Kinases; D014157:Transcription Factors