上调基因4与癌症

Up-regulated Gene-4 (URG4) in Cancers

上调基因4(up-regulated gene-4,URG4)是受乙肝病毒X蛋白(hepatitis B virus X protein,HBx)激活的下游基因之一,最初在转染HBx的HepG2细胞中被克隆,因其上调细胞增殖效应而得名。研究发现,URG4在HBx转染后的HepG2细胞中表达明显增加,同时细胞生长加速,存活率提高,表明URG4与乙肝病毒相关的肝细胞癌发生可能相关。近年来,人们发现URG4不仅在肝癌细胞中高表达,还与胃癌、骨肉瘤、非小细胞肺癌、神经母细胞瘤等多种癌症相关。本文结合近年来对URG4的研究成果,包括URG4基因及其蛋白质的结构与功能,URG4在癌症发生发展中的作用,以及在癌症早期诊断和预后中的意义进行综述,可望为后续深入地开展URG4与癌症的研究提供参考。

Up-regulated gene-4 （URG4） is one of the target genes activated by the transcription factor, hepatitis B virus X protein （ HBx）. It was firstly cloned in HBx-transfected HepG2 cells and named after its effect on up-regulating cell proliferation. The expression of URG4 extremely increased in the HBx- transfected HepG2 cells. Moreover, the cellular growth and survival rates were promoted, which suggested that URG4 might be relevant to the carcinogenesis of HBV-related hepatocellular carcinoma. In recent years, it was found that URG4 was not only highly expressed in hepatocellular carcinoma, but also involved in multiple cancers, such as gastric cancer, osteosarcoma, non-small cell lung cancer and neuroblastoma, etc. In this review, we summarize the recent advance in research on URG4, including the structure of the URG4 gene and its protein, roles of URG4 in carcinogenesis, and the significance of URG4 in early diagnosis and prognosis of cancers. We aim to provide a reference for the future research of URG4 in cancer.