title: CEBPG Exhibits Allele-Specific Expression in Human Bronchial Epithelial Cells.
abstract: Inter-individual variation in CCAAT/enhancer binding protein gamma (CEBPG) transcript expression in normal human bronchial epithelial cells (NBEC) is associated with predisposition to lung cancer. We hypothesize that this inter-individual variation is in part explained by cis-acting genetic variation in CEBPG. To test this hypothesis we measured transcript expression derived from each parental copy of CEBPG (ie, allele-specific expression; ASE). There was a significant 2.9-fold higher cell cycle-specific variation in ASE of CEBPG rs2772 A compared to C allele (P < 0.001). In 20% of NBEC samples, CEBPG rs2772 A allele was expressed on average 2.10 fold greater than rs2772 C allele. These data support the hypothesis that genetic variation in linkage disequilibrium with rs2772 influences regulation of CEBPG transcript expression through a trans-effect downstream of RNA polymerase II transcription and confirm that cis-acting genetic variation contributes to inter-individual variation in CEBPG transcript expression in NBEC, which is associated with variation in lung cancer risk.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, University of Toledo Medical Center, Toledo, USA.
authors.forename: Thomas M
authors.initials: TM
authors.lastname: Blomquist
authors.forename: Ronald D
authors.initials: RD
authors.lastname: Brown
authors.forename: Erin L
authors.initials: EL
authors.lastname: Crawford
authors.forename: Ivana
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: de la Serna
authors.forename: Kandace
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Williams
authors.forename: Youngsook
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yoon
authors.forename: Dawn-Alita
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Hernandez
authors.forename: James C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Willey
keywords: CEBPG; airway epithelium; allele-specific expression; cell-cycle; cystic fibrosis; emphysema; lung cancer; normal bronchial epithelial cells; proliferation