Identification of novel genes involved in gastric carcinogenesis by suppression subtractive hybridization

Gastric cancer (GC) is one of the most common and life-threatening types of malignancies. Identification of the differentially expressed genes in GC is one of the best approaches for establishing new diagnostic and therapeutic targets. Furthermore, these investigations could advance our knowledge about molecular biology and the carcinogenesis of this cancer. To screen for the overexpressed genes in gastric adenocarcinoma, we performed suppression subtractive hybridization (SSH) on gastric adenocarcinoma tissue and the corresponding normal gastric tissue, and eight genes were found to be overexpressed in the tumor compared with those of the normal tissue. The genes were ribosomal protein L18A, RNase H2 subunit B, SEC13, eukaryotic translation initiation factor 4A1, tetraspanin 8, cytochrome c oxidase subunit 2, NADH dehydrogenase subunit 4, and mitochondrially encoded ATP synthase 6. The common functions among the identified genes include involvement in protein synthesis, involvement in genomic stability maintenance, metastasis, metabolic improvement, cell signaling pathways, and chemoresistance. Our results provide new insights into the molecular biology of GC and drug discovery: each of the identified genes could be further investigated as targets for prognosis evaluation, diagnosis, treatment, evaluation of the response to new anticancer drugs, and determination of the molecular pathogenesis of GC. © The Author(s) 2014

Genome expression analysis by suppression subtractive hybridization identified overexpression of Humanin, a target gene in gastric cancer chemoresistance

Background: In cancer cells, apoptosis is an important mechanism that influences the outcome of chemotherapy and the development of chemoresistance. To find the genes involved in chemoresistance and the development of gastric cancer, we used the suppression subtractive hybridization method to identify the genes that are overexpressed in gastric cancer tissues compared to normal gastric tissues. Results: In the suppression subtractive hybridization library we constructed, the most highly overexpressed genes were humanin isoforms. Humanin is a recently identified endogenous peptide that has anti-apoptotic activity and has been selected for further study due to its potential role in the chemoresistance of gastric cancer. Upregulation of humanin isoforms was also observed in clinical samples by using quantitative real-time PCR. Among the studied isoforms, humanin isoform 3, with an expression level of 4.166 ± 1.44 fold, was the most overexpressed isoform in GC. Conclusions: The overexpression of humanin in gastric cancer suggests a role for chemoresistance and provides new insight into the biology of gastric cancer. We propose that humanin isoforms are novel targets for combating chemoresistance in gastric cancer. © 2014 Mottaghi-Dastjerdi et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd

Overexpression of FOXO3, MYD88, and GAPDH identified by suppression subtractive hybridization in esophageal cancer is associated with autophagy

To find genes involved in tumorigenesis and the development of esophageal cancer, the suppression subtractive hybridization (SSH) method was used to identify genes that are overexpressed in esophageal cancer tissues compared to normal esophageal tissues. In our SSH library, the forkhead box O3 (FOXO3), glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH), and myeloid differentiation primary response 88 (MYD88) genes were the most highly upregulated genes, and they were selected for further studies because of their potential role in the induction of autophagy. Upregulation of these genes was also observed in clinical samples using qRT-PCR. In addition, coexpression analysis of the autophagy-related genes Beclin1, ATG12, Gabarapl, PIK3C3, and LC3 demonstrated a significant correlation between the differentially overexpressed genes and autophagy. Autophagy is an important mechanism in tumorigenesis and the development of chemoresistance in cancer cells. The upregulation of FOXO3, GAPDH, and MYD88 variants in esophageal cancer suggests a role for autophagy and provides new insight into the biology of esophageal cancer. We propose that FOXO3, GAPDH, and MYD88 are novel targets for combating autophagy in esophageal cancer. © 2014 Mohammad Soltany-Rezaee-Rad et al