title: High expression of ubiquitin-conjugating enzyme 2C (UBE2C) correlates with nasopharyngeal carcinoma progression.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Overexpression of ubiquitin-conjugating enzyme 2C (UBE2C) has been detected in many types of human cancers, and is correlated with tumor malignancy. However, the role of UBE2C in human nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is unclear. In this study, we investigated the role of aberrant UBE2C expression in the progression of human NPC.
  
  
  METHODS
  Immunohistochemical analysis was performed to detect UBE2C protein in clinical samples of NPC and benign nasopharyngeal tissues, and the association of UBE2C expression with patient clinicopathological characteristics was analyzed. UBEC2 expression profiles were evaluated in cell lines representing varying differentiated stages of NPC and immortalized nasopharyngeal epithelia NP-69 cells using quantitative RT-PCR, western blotting and fluorescent staining. Furthermore, UBE2C was knocked down using RNA interference in these cell lines and proliferation and cell cycle distribution was investigated.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Immunohistochemical analysis revealed that UBE2C protein expression levels were higher in NPC tissues than in benign nasopharyngeal tissues (P<0.001). Moreover, high UBE2C protein expression was positively correlated with tumor size (P=0.017), lymph node metastasis (P=0.016) and distant metastasis (P=0.015) in NPC patients. In vitro experiments demonstrated that UBE2C expression levels were inversely correlated with the degree of differentiation of NPC cell lines, whereas UBE2C displayed low level of expression in NP-69 cells. Knockdown of UBE2C led to significant arrest at the S and G2/M phases of the cell cycle, and decreased cell proliferation was observed in poorly-differentiated CNE2Z NPC cells and undifferentiated C666-1 cells, but not in well-differentiated CNE1 and immortalized NP-69 cells.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our findings suggest that high expression of UBE2C in human NPC is closely related to tumor malignancy, and may be a potential marker for NPC progression.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology & Pathophysiology, School of Basic Medicine Science, Guangdong Medical College, Zhanjiang 524023, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Zhihua
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Shen
authors.forename: Xiaofan
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.forename: Chao
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Zeng
authors.forename: Shaojiang
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Zheng
authors.forename: Botao
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Luo
authors.forename: Yumei
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zeng
authors.forename: Ranran
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Ding
authors.forename: Hanguo
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.forename: Qiyi
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: He
authors.forename: Junli
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Jie
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000378:metabolism*; D002277:Carcinoma / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000556:secondary; D059447:Cell Cycle Checkpoints; D002454:Cell Differentiation; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D049109:Cell Proliferation; D018450:Disease Progression; D005260:Female; D055785:Gene Knockdown Techniques; D006801:Humans; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009303:Nasopharyngeal Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D009305:Nasopharynx / Q000378:metabolism; D044763:Ubiquitin-Conjugating Enzymes / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; C105156:UBE2C protein, human; D044763:Ubiquitin-Conjugating Enzymes