Identification of a novel FAS/ER-alpha fusion transcript expressed in human cancer cells.
A semi-nested reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) was applied to evaluate the presence of estrogen receptor-alpha (ER-alpha) in human prostate cancer cells. Unexpectedly, a novel fatty acid synthase (FAS)/ER-alpha fusion transcript was identified, in which the N-terminus of FAS was fused in-frame with the C-terminus of ER-alpha. The existence of the FAS/ER-alpha transcript was further confirmed by RT-PCR analysis using various sets of amplification primers and different reverse-transcribed primers in the presence of dimethyl sulfoxide to eliminate the secondary structure of RNA. The predicted FAS/ER-alpha protein would contain largely domain I of FAS and the entire ligand binding domain of ER-alpha. The FAS/ER-alpha was expressed in a variety of human cancer cell lines including prostate, breast, cervical and bladder cancer cell lines. Our data suggest that the presence of FAS/ER-alpha may complicate the FAS and the ER-alpha signalling pathway.
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Molecular Urology and Therapeutics Program, Department of Urology, Box 422, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA 22908, USA. qy3x@virginia.edu
Chung
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Li
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Zhau
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D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D001483:Base Sequence; D018076:DNA, Complementary / Q000737:chemistry; D047628:Estrogen Receptor alpha; D064429:Fatty Acid Synthases / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000032:analysis; D011960:Receptors, Estrogen / Q000235:genetics*; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000235:genetics*; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D015398:Signal Transduction; D014407:Tumor Cells, Cultured
D018076:DNA, Complementary; D047628:Estrogen Receptor alpha; D012333:RNA, Messenger; D011960:Receptors, Estrogen; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins; D064429:Fatty Acid Synthases