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Identification of a novel candidate gene, CASC2 , in a region of common allelic loss at chromosome 10q26 in human endometrial cancer
Author(s) -
Baldinu Paola,
Cossu Antonio,
Manca Antonella,
Satta Maria P.,
Sini Maria C.,
Rozzo Carla,
Dessole Salvatore,
Cherchi PierLuigi,
Gianfrancesco Fernando,
Pintus Adriana,
Carboni Annangela,
Deiana Angelo,
Tanda Francesco,
Palmieri Giuseppe
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
human mutation
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.981
H-Index - 162
eISSN - 1098-1004
pISSN - 1059-7794
DOI - 10.1002/humu.20015
Subject(s) - biology , loss of heterozygosity , genetics , gene , candidate gene , allele , mutation , chromosome , tumor suppressor gene , suppressor , microbiology and biotechnology , carcinogenesis
Allelic deletions, which are suggestive for the presence of tumor suppressor genes, represent a common event in endometrial cancer (EC). Previous loss‐of‐heterozygosity studies for human chromosome 10q identified a candidate deletion interval at 10q25‐q26, which we further narrowed to a 160‐kb region at 10q26, bounded by markers D10S1236 and WIAF3299. Using a positional candidate approach, we identified three alternative transcripts of a novel human gene, CASC2 (cancer susceptibility candidate 2; formely C10 orf5 ). One of such transcripts, CASC2a, encodes a short protein of 102 amino acids with no similarity to any other known gene product. Three (7%) CASC2a mutations were identified in tumor DNA from 44 EC patients. While c.−156G>T and c.22C>T (p.Pro8Ser) are sequence variants with unknown functional significance, c.84delA is a mutation with a truncation effect on the predicted protein (p. Asn28fsX50). Expression studies by real‐time RT‐PCR on several normal and tumor cells revealed that CASC2a mRNA is downregulated in cancer, suggesting that it may act as a potential tumor suppressor gene. The very low mutation rate seems to also indicate that inactivation of CASC2a might probably be due to mechanisms different from genetic alterations. Hum Mutat 23:318–326, 2004 © 2004 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.