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Altered expression of retinoblastoma protein‐interacting zinc finger gene, RIZ, in human leukaemia
Author(s) -
Sasaki Osamu,
Meguro Kuniaki,
Tohmiya Yasuo,
Funato Tadao,
Shibahara Shigeki,
Sasaki Takeshi
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
british journal of haematology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.907
H-Index - 186
eISSN - 1365-2141
pISSN - 0007-1048
DOI - 10.1046/j.1365-2141.2002.03972.x
Subject(s) - retinoblastoma , zinc finger , gene , biology , retinoblastoma protein , gene expression , cancer research , microbiology and biotechnology , regulation of gene expression , transcription factor , genetics , cell cycle
Summary. The retinoblastoma protein‐interacting zinc finger gene (RIZ), a member of the nuclear protein methyltransferase superfamily, is characterized by the presence of the N‐terminal PR domain. The RIZ gene encodes for two proteins, RIZ1 and RIZ2. While RIZ1 contains the PR (PRDI‐BF1 and RIZ homologous) domain, RIZ2 lacks it. RIZ gene expression is altered in a variety of human cancers and RIZ1 is now considered to be a candidate tumour suppressor. To investigate the role of RIZ in leukaemogenesis, we analysed the differential expression of RIZ1 and RIZ2 by quantitative real‐time reverse‐transcription polymerase chain reaction assay. Our results showed that the expression of RIZ1 was significantly decreased in leukaemia cell lines (14 out of 17, 82%) and in patients with acute myeloblastic leukaemia (eight out of 14, 57%). In contrast, RIZ2 expression was increased in patients with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (eight out of 11, 73%), compared with normal bone marrow cells. These findings indicate that suppression of RIZ1 expression or enhancement of RIZ2 expression may have an important role in leukaemogenesis.