Expression of thioredoxin during progression of hamster and human cholangiocarcinoma.
Thioredoxin (Trx) is a multifunctional redox protein that has growth-promoting and anti-apoptotic effects on cells and protects cells from endogenous and exogenous free radicals. Recently, altered expression of Trx has been reported in various cancers. In the present study, we investigated altered expression of Trx at the precancerous and carcinogenic phases during cholangiocarcinogenesis in a hamster cholangiocarcinoma (ChC) model, using semiquantitative immunohistochemical and Western blot analyses. Moreover, to determine if the results correlated well with those in human ChCs, we carried out a comparative immunohistochemical study for Trx in tissue-arrayed human ChCs with different grades of tumor cell differentiation. Trx was found highly expressed in the cytoplasm of dysplastic bile ducts with highly abnormal growth patterns and ChCs irrespective of tumor type or tumor cell differentiation. Overexpression of Trx at the precancerous and carcinogenic phases was further supported by significant elevation of Trx protein in Western blotting. The results from the hamster ChCs were in good agreement with those from human ChCs. Our results strongly suggested that the redox regulatory function of Trx plays an important role in bile duct cell transformation and tumor progression during cholangiocarcinogenesis.
School of Veterinary Medicine and Institute of Veterinary Science, Kangwon National University, Chuncheon, Korea.
Byung-Il
BI
Yoon
Yeong-Hun
YH
Kim
Jung-Yeon
JY
Yi
Min-Soo
MS
Kang
Ja-June
JJ
Jang
Kyoung-Hwan
KH
Joo
Yongbaek
Y
Kim
J
J
McHugh Law
Dae-Yong
DY
Kim
D000818:Animals; D001650:Bile Duct Neoplasms / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000473:pathology; D001653:Bile Ducts, Intrahepatic; D015153:Blotting, Western; D018281:Cholangiocarcinoma / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000473:pathology; D006224:Cricetinae; D018450:Disease Progression; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008647:Mesocricetus; D011230:Precancerous Conditions / Q000737:chemistry / Q000473:pathology; D013879:Thioredoxins / Q000032:analysis* / Q000502:physiology
D013879:Thioredoxins