title: A novel potent tumour promoter aberrantly overexpressed in most human cancers.
abstract: The complexity and heterogeneity of tumours have hindered efforts to identify commonalities among different cancers. Furthermore, because we have limited information on the prevalence and nature of ubiquitous molecular events that occur in neoplasms, it is unfeasible to implement molecular-targeted cancer screening and prevention. Here, we found that the FEAT protein is overexpressed in most human cancers, but weakly expressed in normal tissues including the testis, brain, and liver. Transgenic mice that ectopically expressed FEAT in the thymus, spleen, liver, and lung spontaneously developed invasive malignant lymphoma (48%, 19/40) and lung-metastasizing liver cancer (hepatocellular carcinoma) (35%, 14/40) that models human hepatocarcinogenesis, indicating the FEAT protein potently drives tumorigenesis in vivo. Gene expression profiling suggested that FEAT drives receptor tyrosine kinase and hedgehog signalling pathways. These findings demonstrate that integrated efforts to identify FEAT-like ubiquitous oncoproteins are useful and may provide promising approaches for cost-effective cancer screening and prevention.
authors.affiliation: Division of Molecular and Clinical Genetics, Department of Molecular Genetics, Medical Institute of Bioregulation, Kyushu University, Fukuoka 812-8582, Japan. atsushit@sentan.med.kyushu-u.ac.jp
authors.forename: Atsushi
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Takahashi
authors.forename: Hisashi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Tokita
authors.forename: Kenzo
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Takahashi
authors.forename: Tomoharu
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Takeoka
authors.forename: Kosho
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Murayama
authors.forename: Daihachiro
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Tomotsune
authors.forename: Miki
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ohira
authors.forename: Akihiro
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Iwamatsu
authors.forename: Kazuaki
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ohara
authors.forename: Kazufumi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Yazaki
authors.forename: Tadayuki
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Koda
authors.forename: Akira
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Nakagawara
authors.forename: Kenzaburo
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Tani
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D002471:Cell Transformation, Neoplastic / Q000235:genetics*; D015972:Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic / Q000235:genetics*; D020022:Genetic Predisposition to Disease / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D008780:Methyltransferases / Q000235:genetics*; D051379:Mice; D008822:Mice, Transgenic; D009363:Neoplasm Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics*; D011401:Promoter Regions, Genetic / Q000235:genetics*; D015854:Up-Regulation
chemical_list: D009363:Neoplasm Proteins; C583021:EEF1AKNMT protein, human; D008780:Methyltransferases