Abstract
BackgroundMucin glycoprotein's are major components of mucus and are considered an important class of tumor associated antigens. The objective of this study was to investigate the expression of human MUC genes (MUC1, MUC2, MUC5B, MUC5AC and MUC8) in human endometrium and cervix, and to compare and quantitate the expression of MUC genes in normal and cancerous tissues.MethodsSlot blot techniques were used to study the MUC gene expression and quantitation.ResultsOf the five-mucin genes studied, MUC1, MUC5B and MUC8 showed high expression levels in the normal and cancerous endometrial and cervical tissues, MUC2 and MUC5AC showed considerably lower expression. Statistically, higher levels of MUC1, MUC5B and MUC8 were observed in endometrial adenocarcinomas compared to normal tissues. In contrast, only MUC1 levels increased with no significant changes in expression of MUC5B and MUC8 in cervical tumors over normal cervical tissues.ConclusionEndometrial tumors showed increased expression of MUC1, MUC5B and MUC8 over normal tissues. Only MUC1 appears to be increase, in cervical tumors. All the studied tissues showed high and consistent expression of MUC8 mRNA. Low to neglible levels of MUC2 and MUC5AC were observed in all studied endometrial and cervical tissues.
Highlights
Mucin glycoprotein's are major components of mucus and are considered an important class of tumor associated antigens
A better understanding of MUC gene expression patterns in female reproductive malignancies would help enhance prognosis and therapy. To contribute towards this purpose, we investigated the expression of five mucin genes (MUC1, MUC2, MUC5AC, MUC5B and MUC8) in normal reproductive and cancerous tissues
Quantitation of mucin gene expression in endometrial tissues As shown in Fig. 1MUC1 expression was significantly lower in the normal endometrium as compared to the endometrial adenocarcinomas (p = 0.001)
Summary
Mucin glycoprotein's are major components of mucus and are considered an important class of tumor associated antigens. Mucins are high molecular weight glycoprotein components of mucus (> 250 kDa), which protect and lubricate the epithelial surfaces of the respiratory, gastrointestinal and reproductive tracts in the body [1]. The striking feature of most mucin genes isolated far is the presence of repeat sequences that are either tandem in nature as in the case of MUC1 [4] or slightly imperfect repeats as in the case of MUC8 [5]. The repeats are found in the central portion of the protein backbone, which are flanked by unique regions. Mucins have been classified as either membrane-bound or secretory depending on the presence of a putative transmembrane region. BMC Cancer 2005, 5:124 http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2407/5/124 Gene Acc.
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