title: Aberrant FHIT transcripts in cancerous and corresponding non-cancerous lesions of the digestive tract.
abstract: The FHIT gene was recently discovered and proposed as a tumor-suppressor gene. We examined the FHIT gene in a panel of digestive-tract cancers along with their corresponding non-tumorous tissues by reverse transcription of FHIT mRNA followed by PCR amplification and sequencing of the products. A normal FHIT transcript was found to be expressed at robust levels in 44 of 46 cancerous tissues and in all of 46 non-cancerous tissues tested. Of the 46 cancerous specimens, 21 (45.7%) revealed the occurrence of aberrant transcripts. In addition, of the 46 matched normal tissues, 14 (30.4%) showed the existence of aberrant transcripts. Sequence analysis confirmed that aberrant transcripts were missing in one or more exons of the FHIT cDNA, while 8 cases displayed aberrant transcripts of the FHIT gene both in cancerous and in non-cancerous tissues. However, sequence analysis revealed that the patterns of the aberrant transcripts were different between the corresponding paired samples. In addition, there were 6 cases displaying aberrant FHIT transcripts only in their normal-tissue counterparts. These studies indicate that abnormalities of the FHIT gene transcripts occur at a fairly high frequency in cancerous and corresponding non-cancerous lesions of the digestive tract. However, they might not be causally related to the tumorigenesis of the digestive tract.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Taipei Medical College Hospital, Taiwan, Republic of China.
authors.forename: Y J
authors.initials: YJ
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: P H
authors.initials: PH
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: M D
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: J G
authors.initials: JG
authors.lastname: Chang
mesh_terms: D017766:Acid Anhydride Hydrolases; D001483:Base Sequence; D015179:Colorectal Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery; D004938:Esophageal Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery; D004947:Esophagus; D005091:Exons; D005260:Female; D005753:Gastric Mucosa / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D007413:Intestinal Mucosa / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009092:Mucous Membrane / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D009363:Neoplasm Proteins / Q000096:biosynthesis; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D014176:Protein Biosynthesis; D011506:Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D012016:Reference Values; D017384:Sequence Deletion; D013274:Stomach Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery; D014158:Transcription, Genetic; D000099170:Bis(5'-adenosyl)triphosphatase
chemical_list: D017766:Acid Anhydride Hydrolases; D009363:Neoplasm Proteins; D011506:Proteins; D000099170:Bis(5'-adenosyl)triphosphatase