Expression levels of transcribed ultraconserved regions uc.73 and uc.388 are altered in colorectal cancer.
OBJECTIVE
The development of colorectal cancer (CRC) is characterized by multiple genetic alterations. Transcribed ultraconserved regions (T-UCRs) are a subset of 481 sequences longer than 200 bp, which are absolutely conserved between orthologous regions of human, rat and mouse genomes, and are actively transcribed. It has recently been proven in cancer systems that differentially expressed T-UCRs could alter the functional characteristics of malignant cells. Genome-wide profiling revealed that T-UCRs have distinct signatures in human leukemia and carcinoma.


METHODS
In our study, we examined the expression levels of uc.43, uc.73, uc.134, uc.230, uc.339, uc.388 and uc.399 in 54 samples of primary colorectal carcinomas and 15 samples of non-tumoral adjacent tissues by real-time PCR. T-UCR expression levels were also correlated with commonly used clinicopathological features of CRC.


RESULTS
Expression levels of uc.73 (p = 0.0139) and uc.388 (p = 0.0325) were significantly decreased in CRC tissue, and uc.73 indicated a positive correlation with overall survival (p = 0.0315). The lower expression of uc.388 was associated with the distal location of CRC (p = 0.0183), but no correlation of any evaluated T-UCR with clinical stage, grade and tumor diameter was observed.


CONCLUSIONS
Our preliminary results suggest that uc.73 and uc.388 could be potential diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers in CRC patients.
Department of Comprehensive Cancer Care, Masaryk Memorial Cancer Institute, Brno, Czech Republic.
J
J
Sana
S
S
Hankeova
M
M
Svoboda
I
I
Kiss
R
R
Vyzula
O
O
Slaby
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000032:analysis; D015179:Colorectal Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics* / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D022661:RNA, Untranslated / Q000032:analysis*; D012189:Retrospective Studies
D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D022661:RNA, Untranslated