title: Somatic mutations of caspase-2 gene in gastric and colorectal cancers.
abstract: There is mounting evidence that evasion of apoptosis is a hallmark of cancer. Caspase-2, which plays roles in both extrinsic and intrinsic apoptosis pathways, is considered a candidate tumor suppressor. The aim of this study was to explore the possibility that genetic alterations of caspase-2 gene are present in human cancers. In this study, we analyzed the entire coding sequences of human caspase-2 gene for the detection of somatic point mutations in 90 gastric carcinomas and 100 colorectal carcinomas by polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-single strand conformation polymorphism (SSCP). Of the cancers analyzed, two gastric cancers (2/90; 2.2%) and two colorectal cancers (2/100; 2.0%) harbored somatic missense mutations of caspase-2. The mutations consisted of p.V46M (at prodomain), p.S157L (at prodomain), p.R357K (at p13 subunit), and p.R397L (at p13 subunit). We expressed these tumor-derived mutants in 293 T cells and found that three of the mutants decreased cell death activity of caspase-2. Our data indicate that somatic mutation of caspase-2 is rare in gastric and colorectal carcinomas. However, functional data of the caspase-2 mutations also suggest that caspase-2 gene mutation might affect the pathogenesis of some gastric and colorectal cancers by inactivating cell death function of caspase-2.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Min Sung
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Ho Shik
authors.initials: HS
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Eun Goo
authors.initials: EG
authors.lastname: Jeong
authors.forename: Young Hwa
authors.initials: YH
authors.lastname: Soung
authors.forename: Nam Jin
authors.initials: NJ
authors.lastname: Yoo
authors.forename: Sug Hyung
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Lee
mesh_terms: D000230:Adenocarcinoma / Q000235:genetics* / Q000473:pathology; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D017209:Apoptosis / Q000235:genetics; D053143:Caspase 2 / Q000235:genetics*; D015179:Colorectal Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics* / Q000473:pathology; D004252:DNA Mutational Analysis; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009154:Mutation; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D018807:Polymorphism, Single-Stranded Conformational; D013274:Stomach Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics* / Q000473:pathology
chemical_list: D053143:Caspase 2