Zunker Katrin, Epplen Jörg T, Schartl Manfred
Department of Physiological Chemistry I, Biocentre Theodor-Boveri-Institut fuer Biowissenschaften, University of Wuerzburg, Wuerzburg, Germany.
Melanoma Res. 2006 Apr;16(2):105-13. doi: 10.1097/01.cmr.0000215038.30812.d2.
Microsatellite instability is a feature of many tumours and is indicative of a generalized genomic instability of cancer cells. Whether this phenomenon is essential for tumorigenesis and whether it is an early or late step is still a matter of debate. In the Xiphophorus melanoma model, the primary steps leading to tumour formation are known and include overexpression of a mutationally altered epidermal growth factor receptor and the resulting defects in signalling. We have analysed the late stages of melanoma progression for microsatellite instability. Although several types of microsatellite allele alteration in DNA from tumours relative to DNA from non-tumour tissue were found, the frequency was rather low (7.6%). Thus, although the tumours show a wide range of malignancy and aggressiveness, genomic instability that becomes apparent as microsatellite instability does not appear to be an obligatory step for melanoma progression.
微卫星不稳定性是许多肿瘤的一个特征，表明癌细胞存在普遍的基因组不稳定性。这种现象对于肿瘤发生是否至关重要，以及它是早期还是晚期步骤，仍是一个有争议的问题。在剑尾鱼黑色素瘤模型中，导致肿瘤形成的主要步骤是已知的，包括突变改变的表皮生长因子受体的过表达以及由此产生的信号传导缺陷。我们分析了黑色素瘤进展后期的微卫星不稳定性。尽管在肿瘤DNA中相对于非肿瘤组织DNA发现了几种类型的微卫星等位基因改变，但频率相当低（7.6%）。因此，尽管肿瘤表现出广泛的恶性程度和侵袭性，但作为微卫星不稳定性而变得明显的基因组不稳定性似乎不是黑色素瘤进展的必要步骤。
