title: The novel tumor-suppressor Mel-18 in prostate cancer: its functional polymorphism, expression and clinical significance.
abstract: Mel-18 is a member of the polycomb group (PcG) proteins, which are chromatin regulatory factors and play important roles in development and oncogenesis. This study was designed to investigate the clinical and prognostic significance of Mel-18 in patients with prostate cancer. A total of 539 native Japanese subjects consisting of 393 prostate cancer patients and 146 controls were enrolled in this study. Mel-18 genotyping was analyzed using a PCR-RFLP method and an automated sequencer using the GENESCAN software. Immunohistochemistry revealed that Mel-18 expression was diminished in high grade and high stage prostate cancers. Moreover, patients with positive Mel-18 expression had significantly longer PSA recurrence-free survival than patients negative for Mel-18 expression (p=0.038). A Mel-18 1805A/G SNP was located in the 3' untranslated region and was predicted to alter the secondary structure of the mRNA. Mel-18 mRNA expression of the 1805A allele was clearly higher than expression of the 1805G allele by allele specific quantitative RT-PCR. In multivariate analysis, a homozygous G allele genotype and negative Mel-18 expression were independent risk factors predicting high PSA recurrence after radical prostatectomy, with HRs of 2.757 (p=0.022) and 2.271 (p=0.045), respectively. Moreover, the G allele was also an independent predictor of poor cancer-specific survival with an HR of 4.658 (p=0.019) for patients with stage D2 prostate cancer. This is the first study to provide important evidence demonstrating that Mel-18 is a tumor suppressor and possible therapeutic target, as well as a diagnostic marker for poor prognosis in prostate cancer patients.
authors: Department of Urology, Guangzhou Liuhuaqiao Hospital, Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, China.
authors: Wei
authors: W
authors: Wang
authors: Takeshi
authors: T
authors: Yuasa
authors: Norihiko
authors: N
authors: Tsuchiya
authors: Zhiyong
authors: Z
authors: Ma
authors: Shinya
authors: S
authors: Maita
authors: Shintaro
authors: S
authors: Narita
authors: Teruaki
authors: T
authors: Kumazawa
authors: Takamitsu
authors: T
authors: Inoue
authors: Hiroshi
authors: H
authors: Tsuruta
authors: Yohei
authors: Y
authors: Horikawa
authors: Mitsuru
authors: M
authors: Saito
authors: Weilie
authors: W
authors: Hu
authors: Osamu
authors: O
authors: Ogawa
authors: Tomonori
authors: T
authors: Habuchi
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000483:Alleles; D020029:Base Pairing; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D015153:Blotting, Western; D001859:Bone Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism / Q000556:secondary; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D017931:DNA Primers / Q000737:chemistry; D018450:Disease Progression; D015972:Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic / Q000502:physiology*; D016147:Genes, Tumor Suppressor; D006801:Humans; D007124:Immunoenzyme Techniques; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D063150:Polycomb Repressive Complex 1; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012150:Polymorphism, Restriction Fragment Length; D020641:Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide / Q000502:physiology*; D011379:Prognosis; D011468:Prostatectomy; D011471:Prostatic Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000601:surgery; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000378:metabolism; D012097:Repressor Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D015996:Survival Rate
chemical_list: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D017931:DNA Primers; C489348:PCGF2 protein, human; D012333:RNA, Messenger; D012097:Repressor Proteins; D063150:Polycomb Repressive Complex 1