Expression profile of ZFX isoform3/variant 5 in gastric cancer tissues and its association with tumor size

Abstract

<em>Objective(s):</em>Previous studies demonstrate that changes in pre-mRNA splicing play a significant role in human disease development. Furthermore, many cancer-associated genes are regulated by alternative splicing. There are mounting evidences that splice variants which express predominantly in tumors, have clear diagnostic value and may provide potential drug targets. Located on the X chromosome, <em>ZFX</em> gene functions as a transcription regulator for self-renewal of stem cells. This gene has 5 splice variants that encode 3 isoforms. In the present study, we evaluated the clinicopathological relevance of the expression of <em>ZFX isoform 3/variant 5</em> gene in gastric carcinoma. <br/><em>Materials and Methods:</em> A total of 60 tumoral and non-tumoral gastric specimens were evaluated for <em>ZFX</em> isoform 3/variant 5 gene expression using quantitative real-time PCR. <br/><em>Results:</em> Our results showed that the expression of <em>ZFX</em> isoform 3/variant 5 transcript was heterogeneous in gastric specimens. We further showed that there was a positive correlation between the variant expression and tumor size, but not with other clinicopathological features of gastric tumors. <br/><em>Conclusion:</em> This report shows that the expression of <em>ZFX</em> isoform 3/variant 5 transcript was heterogeneous in gastric specimens. Furthermore, there was no significant association between <em>ZFX</em> isoform 3/variant 5 expression and most of clinicopathological features of gastric tumors except for a positive correlation with tumor size. The elucidation of the precise molecular mechanisms governed by the <em>ZFX</em> isoforms/variants needs further investigation.