Cloning And Identification Of Cancer-related Genes

Isolation and characterization of differentiation-related genes in esophageal squamous carcinoma cell lineOur studies on molecular mechanism of cancer cell differentiation resulted in isolation of several novel genes involved in proliferation and differentiation of cancer cells. The identification of these genes suggested that multiple genes encoded by mitochondrial and nuclear genomes are involved in differentiation and proliferation of cancer cells. In this thesis the identification and characterization of a differentiation-related gene NSF is described.The present study suggested that retinoic acid signal transduction pathway was activated by all-trans retinoic acid (ATRA) treatment, and the expression of N-ethylmalimide sensitive factor (NSF) was inhibited in differentiated esophageal sguamous cell carcinoma. This gene is critical for vesicle transport system in a variety of tissues. NSF is expressed in various normal tissues, such as fetal and adult brain, heart and liver, placenta, retina, tonsil, testis, uterus, keratinocytes, melanocytes, ovary, etc., as well as in many tumors, such as lung cancer, breast cancer, kidney cancer, neuroblastoma, carcinoid, etc. Vesicle transport activity change has also been reported during differentiation of normal epithelial and tumor cells, however, there is little information on the regulation mechanism of vesicle transportation activity. The present result suggests that...