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BMC Cancer

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Open Access 01-12-2008 | Research article

Enhancer of the rudimentary gene homologue (ERH) expression pattern in sporadic human breast cancer and normal breast tissue

Authors: Menelaos Zafrakas, Inge Losen, Ruth Knüchel, Edgar Dahl

Published in: BMC Cancer | Issue 1/2008

Abstract

Background

The human gene ERH (Enhancer of the Rudimentary gene Homologue) has previously been identified by in silico analysis of four million ESTs as a gene differentially expressed in breast cancer. The biological function of ERH protein has not been fully elucidated, however functions in cell cycle progression, pyrimidine metabolism a possible interaction with p21(Cip1/Waf1) via the Ciz1 zinc finger protein have been suggested. The aim of the present study was a systematic characterization of ERH expression in human breast cancer in order to evaluate possible clinical applications of this molecule.

Methods

The expression pattern of ERH was analyzed using multiple tissue northern blots (MTN) on a panel of 16 normal human tissues and two sets of malignant/normal breast and ovarian tissue samples. ERH expression was further analyzed in breast cancer and normal breast tissues and in tumorigenic as well as non-tumorigenic breast cancer cell lines, using quantitative RT-PCR and non-radioisotopic in situ hybridization (ISH).

Results

Among normal human tissues, ERH expression was most abundant in testis, heart, ovary, prostate, and liver. In the two MTN sets of malignant/normal breast and ovarian tissue,ERH was clearly more abundantly expressed in all tumours than in normal tissue samples. Quantitative RT-PCR analyses showed that ERH expression was significantly more abundant in tumorigenic than in non-tumorigenic breast cancer cell lines (4.5-fold; p = 0.05, two-tailed Mann-Whitney U-test); the same trend was noted in a set of 25 primary invasive breast cancers and 16 normal breast tissue samples (2.5-fold; p = 0.1). These findings were further confirmed by non-radioisotopic ISH in human breast cancer and normal breast tissue.

Conclusion

ERH expression is clearly up-regulated in malignant as compared with benign breast cells both in primary human breast cancer and in cell models of breast cancer. Since similar results were obtained for ovarian cancer, ERH overexpression may be implicated in the initiation and/or progression of certain human malignancies. Further studies on large breast cancer tissue cohorts should determine whether ERH could function as a prognostic factor or even a drug target in the treatment of human breast cancer.

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The pre-publication history for this paper can be accessed here:http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2407/8/145/prepub

Title: Enhancer of the rudimentary gene homologue (ERH) expression pattern in sporadic human breast cancer and normal breast tissue
Authors: Menelaos Zafrakas
Inge Losen
Ruth Knüchel
Edgar Dahl
Publication date: 01-12-2008
Publisher: BioMed Central
Published in: BMC Cancer / Issue 1/2008
Electronic ISSN: 1471-2407
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2407-8-145

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