title: Mutational analysis of caspase-14 gene in common carcinomas.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Whereas most caspases play roles in apoptosis and/or inflammation, caspase-14 plays a main role in epithelial differentiation. In cancers, expression of caspase-14 is frequently altered and is associated with some clinicopathological characteristics, suggesting caspase-14 might contribute to the pathogenesis of cancers. As a potential mechanism of caspase-14 alterations in cancers, we explored the possibility that mutation of caspase-14 gene is a characteristic of human cancers.
  
  
  METHODS
  We analysed the entire coding region and all splice sites of human caspase-14 gene for the detection of somatic mutations in a series of 345 cancers, including 105 colorectal, 60 gastric, 60 hepatocellular, 60 breast and 60 lung carcinomas, by a single-strand conformation polymorphism (SSCP) assay.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Overall, we detected two somatic mutations of caspase-14 gene, which consisted of one missense mutation (S32Y) and one silent mutation (T234T). The caspase-14 mutations were detected in two of 105 colorectal carcinomas (1.9%), but not in other carcinomas.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These data indicate that caspase-14 gene is rarely mutated in colorectal carcinomas, but not mutated in gastric, lung, breast and hepatocellular carcinomas. The data also suggest that the caspase-14 mutation may not be a direct target of inactivation in tumorigenesis of common carcinomas.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Nam Jin
authors.initials: NJ
authors.lastname: Yoo
authors.forename: Young Hwa
authors.initials: YH
authors.lastname: Soung
authors.forename: Sung Hak
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Eun Goo
authors.initials: EG
authors.lastname: Jeong
authors.forename: Sug Hyung
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Lee
mesh_terms: D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics; D002277:Carcinoma / Q000235:genetics*; D006528:Carcinoma, Hepatocellular / Q000235:genetics; D053456:Caspase 14 / Q000235:genetics*; D015179:Colorectal Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics; D004252:DNA Mutational Analysis; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D018807:Polymorphism, Single-Stranded Conformational; D013274:Stomach Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D053456:Caspase 14