Mutational analysis of the tyrosine phosphatome in colorectal cancers

Tyrosine phosphorylation, regulated by protein tyrosine phosphatases (PTPs) and kinases (PTKs), is important in signaling pathways underlying tumorigenesis. A mutational analysis of the tyrosine phosphatase gene superfamily in human cancers identified 83 somatic mutations in six PTPs (PTPRF, PTPRG, PTPRT, PTPN3, PTPN13, PTPN14), affecting 26% of colorectal cancers and a smaller fraction of lung, breast, and gastric cancers. Fifteen mutations were nonsense, frameshift, or splice-site alterations predicted to result in truncated proteins lacking phosphatase activity. Five missense mutations in the most commonly altered PTP (PTPRT) were biochemically examined and found to reduce phosphatase activity. Expression of wild-type but not a mutant PTPRT in human cancer cells inhibited cell growth. These observations suggest that the mutated tyrosine phosphatases are tumor suppressor genes, regulating cellular pathways that may be amenable to therapeutic intervention.     

Identification of a chromosome 18q gene that is altered in colorectal cancers

Allelic deletions involving chromosome 18q occur in more than 70 percent of colorectal cancers. Such deletions are thought to signal the existence of a tumor suppressor gene in the affected region, but until now a candidate suppressor gene on this chromosomal arm had not been identified. A contiguous stretch of DNA comprising 370 kilobase pairs (kb) has now been cloned from a region of chromosome 18q suspected to reside near this gene. Potential exons in the 370-kb region were defined by human-rodent sequence identities, and the expression of potential exons was assessed by an "exon-connection" strategy based on the polymerase chain reaction. Expressed exons were used as probes for cDNA screening to obtain clones that encoded a portion of a gene termed DCC; this cDNA was encoded by at least eight exons within the 370-kb genomic region. The predicted amino acid sequence of the cDNA specified a protein with sequence similarity to neural cell adhesion molecules and other related cell surface glycoproteins. While the DCC gene was expressed in most normal tissues, including colonic mucosa, its expression was greatly reduced or absent in most colorectal carcinomas tested. Somatic mutations within the DCC gene observed in colorectal cancers included a homozygous deletion of the 5' end of the gene, a point mutation within one of the introns, and ten examples of DNA insertions within a 0.17-kb fragment immediately downstream of one of the exons. The DCC gene may play a role in the pathogenesis of human colorectal neoplasia, perhaps through alteration of the normal cell-cell interactions controlling growth.     

大果黄花梨自交亲和性变异机制研究

梨品种大果黄花由黄花芽变而来.田间授粉试验表明,黄花梨自花授粉结实率仅为1.5%,属于梨自交不亲和性品种;而大果黄花自花授粉的结实率高达60.0%,属于自交亲和性品种;相互授粉时,黄花×大果黄花组合的坐果率达70.0%,为杂交亲和,但反交时坐果率为1.0%,表现为杂交不亲和.荧光显微镜观察这些组合授粉后花柱内花粉管生长情况,也得到相同的结果.这些结果表明,两品种雌蕊的自交不亲和性性状正常.进一步鉴定出了黄花和大果黄花是基于S-RNase基因的S-基因型,发现两者均含有S1-RNase和S2-RNase基因;而且两品种的这1对雌蕊S-RNase基因均特异性地在花柱中表达,表达量没有明显差异,表明大果黄花和黄花的雌蕊S-RNase基因并无差异.由此推断:大果黄花的自交亲和性突变,是由于花粉自交不亲和性功能丧失,从而表现出自花授粉能够结实.     

Comment on "The consensus coding sequences of human breast and colorectal cancers"

Sj?blom et al. (Research Article, 13 October 2006, p. 268) reported nearly 200 novel cancer genes said to have a 90% probability of being involved in colon or breast cancer. However, their analysis raises two statistical concerns. When these concerns are addressed, few genes with significantly elevated mutation rates remain. Although the biological methodology in Sj?blom et al. is sound, more samples are needed to achieve sufficient power.     

Clonal analysis of human colorectal tumors

The clonal composition of human colorectal tumors was studied by means of restriction fragment length polymorphisms (RFLPs). First, X-linked RFLPs were used to examine the pattern of X chromosome inactivation in colorectal tumors of females. All 50 tumors examined showed monoclonal patterns of X chromosome inactivation; these tumors included 20 carcinomas as well as 30 adenomas of either familial or spontaneous type. Second, RFLPs of autosomes were used as clonal markers to detect the somatic loss or gain of specific chromosomal sequences in colorectal tumors. Among other changes, it was found that somatic loss of chromosome 17p sequences occurred in over 75 percent of the carcinomas examined, but such loss was rare in adenomas. These data support a monoclonal origin for colorectal neoplasms, and suggest that a gene on the short arm of chromosome 17 may be associated with progression from the benign to the malignant state.     

Identification of a gene located at chromosome 5q21 that is mutated in colorectal cancers.

Recent studies have suggested the existence of a tumor suppressor gene located at chromosome region 5q21. DNA probes from this region were used to study a panel of sporadic colorectal carcinomas. One of these probes, cosmid 5.71, detected a somatically rearranged restriction fragment in the DNA from a single tumor. Further analysis of the 5.71 cosmid revealed two regions that were highly conserved in rodent DNA. These sequences were used to identify a gene, MCC (mutated in colorectal cancer), which encodes an 829-amino acid protein with a short region of similarity to the G protein-coupled m3 muscarinic acetylcholine receptor. The rearrangement in the tumor disrupted the coding region of the MCC gene. Moreover, two colorectal tumors were found with somatically acquired point mutations in MCC that resulted in amino acid substitutions. MCC is thus a candidate for the putative colorectal tumor suppressor gene located at 5q21. Further studies will be required to determine whether the gene is mutated in other sporadic tumors or in the germ line of patients with an inherited predisposition to colonic tumorigenesis.     

Mutational robustness of ribosomal protein genes

The distribution of fitness effects (DFE) of mutations is of fundamental importance for understanding evolutionary dynamics and complex diseases and for conserving threatened species. DFEs estimated from DNA sequences have rarely been subject to direct experimental tests. We used a bacterial system in which the fitness effects of a large number of defined single mutations in two ribosomal proteins were measured with high sensitivity. The obtained DFE appears to be unimodal, where most mutations (120 out of 126) are weakly deleterious and the remaining ones are potentially neutral. The DFEs for synonymous and nonsynonymous substitutions are similar, suggesting that in some genes, strong fitness constraints are present at the level of the messenger RNA.     

Mutational inactivation of STAG2 causes aneuploidy in human cancer

Most cancer cells are characterized by aneuploidy, an abnormal number of chromosomes. We have identified a clue to the mechanistic origins of aneuploidy through integrative genomic analyses of human tumors. A diverse range of tumor types were found to harbor deletions or inactivating mutations of STAG2, a gene encoding a subunit of the cohesin complex, which regulates the separation of sister chromatids during cell division. Because STAG2 is on the X chromosome, its inactivation requires only a single mutational event. Studying a near-diploid human cell line with a stable karyotype, we found that targeted inactivation of STAG2 led to chromatid cohesion defects and aneuploidy, whereas in two aneuploid human glioblastoma cell lines, targeted correction of the endogenous mutant alleles of STAG2 led to enhanced chromosomal stability. Thus, genetic disruption of cohesin is a cause of aneuploidy in human cancer.     

Lectins mimic insulin in the induction of tyrosine aminotransferase

Various lectins were found to induce tyrosine aminotransferase in H-35 rat hepatoma cells grown in monolayer culture. Wheat germ agglutinin gave a maximal induction of tyrosine aminotransferase 6 hours after its addition. The induction time course was similar to that elicited by insulin. Fourteen micrograms of wheat germ agglutinin per milliliter gave half-maximal enzyme induction and 50 micrograms per milliliter gave the maximal response. The induction of tyrosine aminotransferase by wheat germ agglutinin was additive with the induction by either dexamethasone or dibutyryl adenosine 3',5'-monophosphate, but was not additive with the tyrosine amino transferase induction by insulin. Wheat germ agglutinin also mimicked insulin in the inhibition of cellular protein degradation in the absence of serum. The insulin-like effects of lectins should be considered in lectin-mediated manipulations such as agglutination.     

Estradiol is concentrated in tyrosine hydroxylase-containing neurons of the hypothalamus

Localization of [3H]estradiol in tyrosine hydroxylase-containing neurons of rat brain was shown by a combined technique of autoradiography and immunohistochemistry. [3H]Estradiol was concentrated in the nuclei of tyrosine hydroxylase-containing neurons in the nucleus arcuatus, nucleus periventricularis hypothalami, and the zona incerta. These results suggest that estradiol acts directly on dopamine-producing neurons of the tuberoinfundibular system and incertohypothalamic system.     

Posttranscriptional control in the steroid-mediated induction of hepatic tyrosine transaminase

The purine analog azaguanine does not inhibit the initial induction of hepatic tyrosine transaminase by hydrocortisone. However, the continued induced synthesis of tyrosine transaminase, elicited by repeated doses of hydro-cortisone, is inhibited approximately 64 percent in the presence of the analog after 7 to 8 hours and appears to be almost completely inhibited by 9 to 10 hours; this suggests that the induction cycle involves the activation and renewal of a pool of preexisting messenger RNA.     

Landscape of somatic retrotransposition in human cancers

Transposable elements (TEs) are abundant in the human genome, and some are capable of generating new insertions through RNA intermediates. In cancer, the disruption of cellular mechanisms that normally suppress TE activity may facilitate mutagenic retrotranspositions. We performed single-nucleotide resolution analysis of TE insertions in 43 high-coverage whole-genome sequencing data sets from five cancer types. We identified 194 high-confidence somatic TE insertions, as well as thousands of polymorphic TE insertions in matched normal genomes. Somatic insertions were present in epithelial tumors but not in blood or brain cancers. Somatic L1 insertions tend to occur in genes that are commonly mutated in cancer, disrupt the expression of the target genes, and are biased toward regions of cancer-specific DNA hypomethylation, highlighting their potential impact in tumorigenesis.     

p53 mutations in human cancers

Mutations in the evolutionarily conserved codons of the p53 tumor suppressor gene are common in diverse types of human cancer. The p53 mutational spectrum differs among cancers of the colon, lung, esophagus, breast, liver, brain, reticuloendothelial tissues, and hemopoietic tissues. Analysis of these mutations can provide clues to the etiology of these diverse tumors and to the function of specific regions of p53. Transitions predominate in colon, brain, and lymphoid malignancies, whereas G:C to T:A transversions are the most frequent substitutions observed in cancers of the lung and liver. Mutations at A:T base pairs are seen more frequently in esophageal carcinomas than in other solid tumors. Most transitions in colorectal carcinomas, brain tumors, leukemias, and lymphomas are at CpG dinucleotide mutational hot spots. G to T transversions in lung, breast, and esophageal carcinomas are dispersed among numerous codons. In liver tumors in persons from geographic areas in which both aflatoxin B1 and hepatitis B virus are cancer risk factors, most mutations are at one nucleotide pair of codon 249. These differences may reflect the etiological contributions of both exogenous and endogenous factors to human carcinogenesis.     

Targeting tyrosine kinases in cancer: the second wave

One of the most exciting developments in cancer research in recent years has been the clinical validation of molecularly targeted drugs that inhibit the action of pathogenic tyrosine kinases. Treatment of appropriately selected patients with these drugs can alter the natural history of their disease and improve survival. The clinical validation of these "first-generation" tyrosine kinase inhibitors has been the prelude to a second wave of advances in molecular targeting that is expected to further change the way we classify and treat cancer. Efforts are now being directed at identifying the tumor subtypes and patients who will benefit the most from these drugs. In addition, new compounds that circumvent acquired resistance to the first-generation tyrosine kinase inhibitors are being tested in patients with refractory disease. Agents directed against new molecular targets are also being explored.     

PRRSV SD-TA变异毒株的分离及序列分析

从猪"高热病"病料中分离到一株猪繁殖与呼吸综合征病毒(SD-TA株),该病毒能够被抗PRRSV N蛋白单克隆抗体所识别.根据GenBank PRRSV经典株(VR-2332)和变异株(JXA1)基因序列分别设计合成了10对引物,利用RT-PCR扩增其基因序列,分别得到了预期的基因片段,将扩增的cDNA片段克隆入pMD18-T载体并测序.应用DNASTAR软件分析,与国内外已发表毒株的序列进行比较.结果显示,与美洲型相比,PRRSV SD-TA株相应基因核苷酸同源性为89.3 %～99.1 %,并且在Nsp2上缺失了30个氨基酸;与欧洲型代表毒株LV株相比同源性为59.9 %.遗传关系表明:SD-TA株属于高致病性变异株.     

NSP4基因突变的重组牛轮状病毒的拯救及其鉴定

【目的】 通过反向遗传技术结合RNAi筛选和蚀斑克隆方法,拯救出毒力减弱的轮状病毒(rotavirus, RV)。 【方法】 以野生型轮状病毒CHLY基因组RNA为模板,通过重叠PCR方法在NSP4基因93-104 nt引入5个沉默突变核苷酸,并将毒力位点区135aa、136aa和138aa对应的核苷酸进行定向突变,构建了含有突变位点的转录质粒△pT7-NSP4/89/M。将该质粒与携带RNA聚合酶基因的重组质粒pcDNA3.1/T7-RNAP共转染已接种野生型RV病毒的MA104细胞单层,继续培养24 h,获得了携带NSP4变异基因的RV病毒粒子和野生型RV病毒粒子的混合病毒。将获得的混合病毒接种MA104细胞,通过RNA干扰和蚀斑克隆方法逐步筛选纯化以获得拯救RV。 【结果】 成功拯救出了NSP4基因变异的RV,该病毒在MA104细胞上的病变和致乳鼠腹泻效果较野生型RV明显减弱。【结论】 通过反向遗传技术结合RNAi筛选和蚀斑克隆方法成功拯救出毒力减弱的RV;NSP4毒力位点135aa、136aa和138aa的变异对RV毒力改变和腹泻严重程度有影响。