Glycosylphosphatidyl inositol-anchored protein (GPI-80) gene expression is correlated with human thymoma stage.
Thymoma is one of the most common solid tumors in the mediastinum. Because there is no typical cell line for human thymoma, the development and use of molecular-based therapy for thymoma will require detailed molecular-genetic analysis of patients' tissues. Recent reports showed that genetic aberrations in thymoma were most frequently seen in chromosome 6q regions. We investigated the use of oligonucleotide arrays to monitor in vivo expression levels of genes in chromosome 6 regions in early- (stage I or II) and late- (stage IVa) stage thymoma tissues from patients. These in vivo gene expression profiles were verified by real-time quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) using LightCycler for 48 thymoma patients and sandwich ELISA for 33 thymoma patients. Using both methods, a candidate gene was identified which was overexpressed in stage IV thymoma. This was a known glycosylphosphatidyl inositol (GPI)-anchored protein (GPI-80), which is highly homologous with Vanin-1, a mouse thymus homing protein. Serum level of GPI-80 was confirmed to be elevated in stage IV thymoma compared with in stage I thymoma by using sandwich ELISA. The combined use of oligonucleotide microarray, real-time RT-PCR, and ELISA analyses provides a powerful new approach to elucidate the in vivo molecular events surrounding the development and progression of thymoma.
Sasaki
Hidefumi
H
Department of Surgery II, Nagoya City University Medical School, Mizuho-ku, Nagoya 467-8601, Japan. hisasaki@kch.hosp.go.jp
Ide
Nobuyuki
N
Sendo
Fujiro
F
Takeda
Yuji
Y
Adachi
Masakazu
M
Fukai
Ichiro
I
Fujii
Yoshitaka
Y
D000581:Amidohydrolases; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000032:analysis; D015815:Cell Adhesion Molecules / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D018450:Disease Progression; D005260:Female; D058851:GPI-Linked Proteins; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D006801:Humans; D006867:Hydrolases; D007124:Immunoenzyme Techniques; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009363:Neoplasm Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D020411:Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000032:analysis; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D013945:Thymoma / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics* / Q000473:pathology; D013953:Thymus Neoplasms / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics* / Q000473:pathology
D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D015815:Cell Adhesion Molecules; D058851:GPI-Linked Proteins; D009363:Neoplasm Proteins; D012333:RNA, Messenger; D006867:Hydrolases; D000581:Amidohydrolases; C121771:VNN2 protein, human