Elevated expression of thyroid hormone receptor alpha 2 (c-erb A- alpha 2) in nasopharyngeal carcinoma.
Differential display was used to identify genes differentially expressed between cultured normal nasal epithelial cells and nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) cell lines. A 130 bp cDNA fragment showing homology with thyroid hormone receptor alpha2 (TR-alpha2 or c-erb A-alpha2) was identified in NPC cell lines. Northern blot analysis using the 130 bp cDNA fragment and a TR-alpha2 specific cDNA containing part of the coding region as probes, we were able to detect a 2.7 kb transcript corresponding to that of TR-alpha2 in NPC cell lines but not in normal nasal epithelial cells. RNA in situ hybridization was used to detect TR-alpha2 expression in clinical biopsies obtained from NPC patients and non-tumour controls. TR-alpha2 mRNA was detected in 1 out of 24 (4.2%) normal nasopharynx epithelium biopsies, in 5 out of 27 (18.5%) primary and 15 out of 24 (62.5%) recurrent tumours. The positive rate of TR-alpha2 expression in recurrent NPC biopsies was significantly higher than that in normal nasopharynx epithelium (P<0.00001). The relevance of the elevated expression of TR-alpha2 in the pathogenesis process of NPC was discussed.
Lee
J W
JW
Graduate Institute of Microbiology, College of Medicine, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan.
Chen
C L
CL
Juang
B T
BT
Chen
J Y
JY
Yang
C S
CS
Doong
S L
SL
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001483:Base Sequence; D015152:Blotting, Northern; D015139:Blotting, Southern; D004273:DNA, Neoplasm / Q000235:genetics; D005260:Female; D015972:Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic; D006801:Humans; D017403:In Situ Hybridization; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009303:Nasopharyngeal Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics* / Q000473:pathology; D012334:RNA, Neoplasm / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D011988:Receptors, Thyroid Hormone / Q000235:genetics*; D012689:Sequence Homology, Nucleic Acid; D014407:Tumor Cells, Cultured
D004273:DNA, Neoplasm; D012334:RNA, Neoplasm; D011988:Receptors, Thyroid Hormone