Expression dynamics of family genes during self-renewal and differentiation of mouse pluripotent stem and teratocarcinoma cells.

The biological roles of cancer-testis antigens of the Melanoma antigen (Mage) family in mammalian development, stem cell differentiation and carcinogenesis are largely unknown. In order to understand the involvement of the family genes in maintenance of normal and cancer stem cells, the expression patterns of and gene subfamilies were analyzed during the self-renewal and differentiation of mouse pluripotent stem and teratocarcinoma cells. Clustering analysis based on the gene expression profiles of undifferentiated and differentiating cell populations revealed strong correlations between expression patterns and differentiation and malignant states. Gene co-expression analysis disclosed the potential contributions of family members in self-renewal and differentiation of pluripotent stem and teratocarcinoma cells. Two gene clusters including and were identified as functional antagonists with opposing roles in the regulation of proliferation and differentiation of mouse pluripotent stem and teratocarcinoma cells. The identified aberrant expression patterns of and in teratocarcinoma cells can be considered as specific teratocarcinoma biomarkers promoted the malignant phenotype. Our study first provides a model for the involvement of family members in regulatory networks during the self-renewal and early differentiation of normal and cancerous stem cells for further research of the predicted functional modules and the development of new cancer treatment strategies.