Identification and partial sequence of a cDNA that is differentially expressed in human brain tumors.

Differential display technique was used to identify mRNAs that are differentially expressed in malignant versus benign brain tumors. Using this method, a novel 1.4-kb long cDNA (MM1) clone was isolated and sequenced. The nucleotide and the translated amino acid sequence of MM1 cDNA clone did not show significant homology to any known sequence in the Genebank. The expression of MM1 appears to be almost eightfold higher in glioblastomas compared to low grade astrocytomas and slightly higher in malignant meningiomas than in benign meningiomas. The size of mRNA from northern analysis appears to be 7 kb, which is much higher than the size of the isolated MM1 cDNA clone. Expression of MM1 was also seen in various cell lines derived from human tumors including glioblastomas. Whereas low level expression was seen in kidney, esophagus, liver, lymph node, ovary and testis, none of the other tissues from a total of 18 different human organs showed any MM1 expression.