OncoTargets and Therapy (Jul 2019)

The role of PEG3 in the occurrence and prognosis of colon cancer

  • Zhou T,
  • Lin W,
  • Zhu Q,
  • Renaud H,
  • Liu X,
  • Li R,
  • Tang C,
  • Ma C,
  • Rao T,
  • Tan Z,
  • Guo Y

Journal volume & issue
Vol. Volume 12
pp. 6001 – 6012

Abstract

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Ting Zhou,1–4 Wei Lin,5 Qiongni Zhu,6 Helen Renaud,7 Xiaowei Liu,8 Ruidong Li,9 Cui Tang,1–4 Chong Ma,1–4 Tai Rao,1–4 Zhirong Tan,1–4 Ying Guo1–41Department of Clinical Pharmacology, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha 410008, People’s Republic of China; 2Human Key Laboratory of Pharmacogenetics, Institute of Clinical Pharmacology, Central South University, Changsha 410078, People’s Republic of China; 3Engineering Research Center of Applied Technology of Pharmacogenomics, Ministry of Education, Changsha 410078, People’s Republic of China; 4National Clinical Research Center for Geriatric Disorders, Changsha, Hunan 410008, People’s Republic of China; 5Department of Pathology, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha 410008, People’s Republic of China; 6Department of Pharmacy, Ruijin Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai 200025, People’s Republic of China; 7Department of Pharmacology, Toxicology and Therapeutics, University of Kansas Medical Center, Kansas City, KS 66160, USA; 8Department of Gastroenterology, Xiangya Hospital of Central South University, Changsha, Hunan 410008, People’s Republic of China; 9Graduate Program in Genetics, Genomics & Bioinformatics, University of California, Riverside, CA 92507, USAPurpose: Imprinted genes are often identified as key players in the etiology and prognosis of many tumors; however, the role they play in colon cancer remains unclear. Along with the development of big data analysis came the discovery of a wealth of genetic prognostic factors, like microsatellite instability for colon cancer, which need to be taken into consideration when evaluating new biomarkers for the disease.Methods: We systematically mined public databases to find recurrence free survival (RFS)-related imprinted genes for colon cancer patients on the mRNA level by univariate and multivariate survival analyses. We then investigated the association of methylation status and microRNA expression of the targeted imprinted genes with survival rate of colon cancer patients. Lastly, in a clinical study we used qRT-PCR and immunohistochemistry to quantify mRNA and protein expression of the imprinted genes that related to RFS in our bioinformatics screening, respectively, in 20 tumor tissues compared to paired adjacent tissues.Results: The results show that paternally expressed gene 3 (PEG3) is the only imprinted gene related to colon cancer patient prognosis on the mRNA level in our datasets, and high mRNA expression of PEG3 is associated with a poor prognosis. Furthermore, the methylation beta value of cg13960339, as well as the expression of 4 microRNAs, negatively correlated with PEG3 mRNA level and were correlated with the prognosis of colon cancer patients. Moreover, the expression of PEG3 mRNA in colon cancer is significantly lower, but PEG3 protein expression is significantly higher compared to that in normal tissues.Conclusion: PEG3 is likely associated with the progression and prognosis of colon cancer.Keywords: colon cancer, prognosis, imprinted gene, PEG3

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