The Influence of Tumor Microenvironment on ATG4D Gene Expression in Colorectal Cancer Patients

In this study, we aimed at investigating the relative expression level of mRNA via Real-Time PCR of 16 chosen genes belonging to Atg8 mammalian orthologs and their conjugation system, comprisingGABARAP, GABARAPL1, GABARAPL2, MAP1LC3A, MAP1LC3B, MAP1LC3C, ATG3, ATG7, ATG10, ATG4A, ATG4B, ATG4C, ATG4D, and three genes encoding proteins building the multimeric ATG16L1 complex, namelyATG5, ATG12, andATG16L1, in 73 colorectal tumors and paired adjacent normal colon mucosa. Our study demonstrated the relative downregulation of all examined genes in CRC tissues in comparison to adjacent noncancerous mucosa, with the highest rate of expression in both tumor and non-tumor tissues observed forGAPARBPL2 and the lowest forMAP1LC3C. Moreover, in patients with advanced-stage tumors and high values of regional lymph nodes, statistically significant downregulation ofATG4D expression in adjacent normal cells was observed. Our study confirms the role of autophagy genes as cancer suppressors in colorectal carcinogenesis. Furthermore, in regard to theATG4D gene, we observed the influence of tumor microenvironments on gene expression in adjacent colon mucosa.
Source: Medical Oncology - Category: Cancer & Oncology Source Type: research