Screening of specific changes in mRNAs in thyroid tumors by sequence specific differential display: decreased expression of c-fos mRNA in papillary carcinoma.
To examine the specific changes in gene expression in thyroid carcinomas, we performed sequence specific-differential display (SS-DD) analysis by using a specific degenerate primer for the superfamily of the small G protein. After subcloning and sequencing analysis, one of the genes that showed decreased expression in thyroid papillary carcinomas was revealed to be the proto-oncogene c-fos. Expression of c-fos mRNA in benign and malignant tissues was examined by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and Northern blotting. The expression of c-fos was detected in all twelve normal thyroid tissues, whereas it decreased in thirteen of fifteen papillary carcinomas. These results indicate that the increased expression of c-fos mRNA is not necessarily to be an oncogenic feature of thyroid tumors. Further, its constant expression in normal thyroid tissues may play a role in the maintenance of thyroid function.
Liu
G
G
Department of Laboratory Medicine, Osaka University Medical School, Suita, Japan.
Takano
T
T
Matsuzuka
F
F
Higashiyama
T
T
Kuma
K
K
Amino
N
N
D000236:Adenoma / Q000378:metabolism; D015152:Blotting, Northern; D002291:Carcinoma, Papillary / Q000378:metabolism*; D015870:Gene Expression; D016762:Genes, fos / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D000090063:Proto-Oncogene Mas; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000378:metabolism*; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D013964:Thyroid Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism*
C000715470:MAS1 protein, human; D000090063:Proto-Oncogene Mas; D012333:RNA, Messenger