title: Mutation of the nm23-H1 gene has a non-dominant role in colorectal adenocarcinoma.
abstract: Nm23-H1 is a metastasis suppressor gene, which is has a reduced expression in patients with digestive system cancer. However, the mechanistic basis for the genetic instability remains unknown. To study the expression of the nm23-H1 gene in patients with colorectal cancer, polymerase chain reaction-single strand conformation polymorphism was used to analyze any point mutation, and immunohistochemistry was used to detect the expression of nm23-H1. Results revealed that all 63 specimens of Chinese human colorectal cancer tissues exhibit no point mutation. Among those 63 specimens, 19 (30%) exhibited positive immunostaining for the nm23-H1 protein and 44 (70%) exhibited negative immunostaining. These observations suggested that the protein and gene expression levels of nm23-H1 are reduced in colorectal cancer compared with the adjacent normal tissues, and the point mutation in the nm23-H1 gene is not the dominant cause of metastatic colorectal cancer.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Shanghai University of Medicine and Health Sciences, Shanghai 200237, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Yueling
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Jin
authors.affiliation: Department of Hematology-Oncology, Shanghai Pudong Hospital Affiliated to Fudan University, Shanghai 201399, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Zhensheng
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Dai
keywords: colorectal adenocarcinoma; metastasis; mutation; nm23-H1 gene