Identification of CD44 splice variant in Korean colorectal cancers and cell lines.
CD44 is a glycoprotein expressed in a wide variety of cell types. Recently expression of some alternatively-spliced variants of CD44 transcripts (CD44v) has been suggested to play a potential role in tumor metastasis and the detection of CD44v containing exon 6 to 11 may be helpful for the diagnosis of cancers. Expressions of CD44v containing exon 6 to 11 were investigated in 20 human colorectal cancer samples, peripheral blood leukocytes isolated from colorectal cancer patients, and 4 colorectal cancer cell lines using reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction and Southern blot analysis. The standard form of CD44 transcripts was expressed in all samples tested. CD44v containing exon 6 to 11 was expressed in 18 cases of colorectal cancers (sensitivity = 90%), 3 out of 4 cell lines, and one normal tissue (specificity = 95%). These results suggest that the expression of CD44v containing exon 6 to 11 can be regarded as tumor specific and that this marker may be helpful for the early diagnosis of colon cancers, if specimens from the early stage are available.
Suh
S I
SI
Department of Microbiology, School of Medicine, Keimyung University, Taegu, Korea.
Baek
W K
WK
Park
J W
JW
Bae
O S
OS
Suh
M H
MH
Choe
B K
BK
D000230:Adenocarcinoma / Q000235:genetics*; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001483:Base Sequence; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D015139:Blotting, Southern; D015179:Colorectal Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000235:genetics*; D017931:DNA Primers; D004587:Electrophoresis, Agar Gel; D005243:Feces / Q000737:chemistry / Q000166:cytology; D005260:Female; D015972:Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic / Q000235:genetics; D006801:Humans; D018960:Hyaluronan Receptors / Q000235:genetics*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012326:RNA Splicing / Q000502:physiology*; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000032:analysis; D014407:Tumor Cells, Cultured / Q000502:physiology*
D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D017931:DNA Primers; D018960:Hyaluronan Receptors; D012333:RNA, Messenger