BACKGROUND & AIMS:
:The metastatic lymph node 64 (MLN64), which is localized in the human chromosome 17, encodes a protein with strong homology with steroidogenic acute regulatory protein. Its overexpression in human breast carcinomas and MLNs led to the hypothesis that this protein could be involved in intraneoplastic steroidogenesis. In the present study, we investigated the expression of MLN64 in prostate cancer, another hormone-dependent tumor, and compared its expression with that of CYP17, the gene encoding for the key enzyme of androgen synthesis. We investigated by RT-PCR the expression of MLN64 and CYP17 in 60 prostatic tumors and compared their expression with the stage of disease and the appearance of relapses in a follow-up of 24 months. We found MLN64 and CYP17 expressed in all samples examined, with significantly higher expression in neoplastic tissues with respect to normal tissues (NTs). Moreover, only in neoplastic but not in NTs, a positive linear correlation was found between MLN64 and CYP17 gene expression. MLN64 and CYP17 expression seems to correlate with high stage, high Gleason score and short relapse-free time. These data, for the first time, demonstrate the presence of MLN64 and CYP17 expression in both normal and neoplastic prostatic tissues. The biological role of MLN64 in human prostate and, particularly, in neoplastic tissue is still unclear. Our findings concerning MLN64 and CYP17 gene expression and their significant positive correlation in human prostate cancer may suggest their possible role in intraneoplastic autonomous steroidogenesis.
背景与目标:
:转移性淋巴结64(MLN64)位于人类17号染色体上,编码一种与类固醇生成的急性调节蛋白具有高度同源性的蛋白。它在人乳腺癌和MLNs中的过度表达导致以下假设:该蛋白可能参与了肿瘤内类固醇生成。在本研究中,我们研究了MLN64在另一种激素依赖性肿瘤前列腺癌中的表达,并将其与CYP17的表达进行了比较,CYP17是编码雄激素合成关键酶的基因。我们通过RT-PCR调查了MLN64和CYP17在60例前列腺肿瘤中的表达,并在24个月的随访中将它们的表达与疾病阶段和复发情况进行了比较。我们发现MLN64和CYP17在所有检查的样品中均有表达,相对于正常组织(NTs),其在肿瘤组织中的表达明显更高。此外,仅在赘生物中而不在NT中,在MLN64和CYP17基因表达之间发现正线性相关。 MLN64和CYP17表达似乎与高分期,高Gleason评分和较短的无复发时间相关。这些数据首次证明在正常和赘生性前列腺组织中均存在MLN64和CYP17表达。 MLN64在人类前列腺,特别是在肿瘤组织中的生物学作用仍不清楚。我们关于MLN64和CYP17基因表达及其在人前列腺癌中的显着正相关的发现可能表明它们可能在肿瘤内自主类固醇生成中发挥作用。