Division of Cancer-Related Genes, Institute for Genetic Medicine, Department of Surgical Oncology, Graduate School of Medicine, Hokkaido University, Sapporo 060-0815, Japan.
Oncol Rep. 2010 Mar;23(3):843-51.
HOX genes are known as master regulator genes which give cells positional information in embryogenesis. In this study, we compared the expression patterns of 39 HOX genes among human colorectal carcinomas from the right large intestine (cecum, ascending and transverse colon), those from the left large intestine (discending and sigmoid colon, and rectum) and hepatocellular carcinoma. The expression levels of each HOX gene were quantified by analysis based on the real-time RT-PCR. The expression patterns of HOX genes in colorectal and hepatocellular carcinoma tissues differed from those in their normal or non-cancerous tissues. Between the tumor tissues in the right-side large intestine and those in the left-side, different HOX genes were expressed in association with cancer. Further, the expression levels of HOXD8 in liver-metastatic tissues of colorectal carcinomas were as low as in non-cancerous liver tissues, and were significantly lower than those in the primary tissues. These results suggest that dysregulated expressions of HOX genes play an important role in carcinogenesis and malignant progression of colorectal and hepatocellular carcinomas.
HOX 基因被称为主调控基因，它们在胚胎发生过程中赋予细胞位置信息。在这项研究中，我们比较了来自人大肠直肠癌（盲肠、升结肠和横结肠）、来自人大肠左半部分（降结肠和乙状结肠和直肠）和肝癌的 39 个 HOX 基因的表达模式。通过基于实时 RT-PCR 的分析来定量每个 HOX 基因的表达水平。HOX 基因在结直肠癌和肝癌组织中的表达模式与正常或非癌组织中的表达模式不同。在右半大肠肿瘤组织和左半大肠肿瘤组织之间，与癌症相关的 HOX 基因表达不同。此外，结直肠癌肝转移组织中 HOXD8 的表达水平与非癌性肝组织一样低，明显低于原发性组织。这些结果表明，HOX 基因的失调表达在结直肠癌和肝癌的发生和恶性进展中发挥重要作用。
