title: Overexpression and amplification of c-myc during progression of human colorectal cancer.
abstract: Overexpression and amplification of the c-myc oncogene occur in approximately 70 and 10% of human primary colorectal carcinomas, respectively, indicating the importance of this gene in colorectal tumorigenesis. Little, however, is known about the involvement of c-myc in the progression of colorectal cancer. We therefore determined c-myc gene expression and amplification in a group of primary tumors and metastases from patients with colorectal cancer using quantitative PCR-based tests. While the percentage of metastases overexpressing c-myc (13/26 = 50%) was in the same range as reported for primary tumors by others, gene amplification of c-myc was significantly (p = 0.001) more frequent in metastases (16/27 = 59%) compared to primary tumors (1/23 = 4%) in our series. Interestingly, in 23 metastases where both expression and amplification of c-myc could be determined, there was no correlation between gene copy number and expression level (p = 0.18; r = 0.19). We conclude that amplification but not overexpression of c-myc is related to metastatic progression of colorectal cancer and that overexpression of c-myc is driven by mechanisms other than the number of c-myc copies in the tumors studied.
authors.affiliation: Department Innere Medizin, Kantonsspital Basel, Schweiz.
authors.forename: C F
authors.initials: CF
authors.lastname: Rochlitz
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Herrmann
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: de Kant
mesh_terms: D015179:Colorectal Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology*; D004273:DNA, Neoplasm / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification; D018450:Disease Progression; D005784:Gene Amplification / Q000235:genetics*; D015972:Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic / Q000235:genetics; D016259:Genes, myc / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D009362:Neoplasm Metastasis / Q000235:genetics / Q000473:pathology*; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000379:methods; D016271:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-myc / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000096:biosynthesis; D012334:RNA, Neoplasm / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification
chemical_list: D004273:DNA, Neoplasm; D016271:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-myc; D012333:RNA, Messenger; D012334:RNA, Neoplasm