title: Dysregulation of GIMAP genes in non-small cell lung cancer.
abstract: The GIMAP (GTPase of the immunity-associated protein) gene family includes seven functional members residing on human chromosome 7. GIMAP genes encode GTP-binding proteins that share a unique primary structure and whose function is largely unknown. However, gene ablation studies reveal that Gimap4 plays an important role in regulating the apoptosis of T cells. In a pilot microarray analysis on six cases of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), we discovered that the expression of GIMAP family members, but not the neighboring non-GIMAP genes, was uniformly lower in the tumor tissues, compared to that in the adjacent nontumor tissues. This finding was subsequently confirmed by quantitative PCR assays in a total of twenty NSCLCs, and we found that GIMAP6 and GIMAP8 showed striking reduction of gene expression in the tumors. In contrast, GIMAP8 mRNA level was abnormally elevated in the adjacent nontumor tissues as compared to that in the control lung tissues. Such reciprocal expression of GIMAPs suggests that this unique gene family might contribute to the pathogenesis of and immune reactions to NSCLC.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Life Sciences and Institute of Genome Sciences, National Yang-Ming University, Taipei, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Yu-Ming
authors.initials: YM
authors.lastname: Shiao
authors.forename: Ya-Hui
authors.initials: YH
authors.lastname: Chang
authors.forename: Yen-Ming
authors.initials: YM
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Jian-Chiuan
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Jih-Shyun
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Su
authors.forename: Ko-Jiunn
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Yu-Fen
authors.initials: YF
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Ming-Wei
authors.initials: MW
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.forename: Shih-Feng
authors.initials: SF
authors.lastname: Tsai
mesh_terms: D000230:Adenocarcinoma / Q000235:genetics / Q000556:secondary; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D002289:Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung / Q000235:genetics* / Q000473:pathology; D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000235:genetics / Q000556:secondary; D019204:GTP-Binding Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D015972:Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic; D006801:Humans; D008168:Lung / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics* / Q000556:secondary; D005810:Multigene Family; D020411:Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis; D010865:Pilot Projects; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D012334:RNA, Neoplasm / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D014407:Tumor Cells, Cultured
chemical_list: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D012333:RNA, Messenger; D012334:RNA, Neoplasm; D019204:GTP-Binding Proteins