Variations of mitochondrial D-loop region plus downstream gene 1 2S rRNA-tRNA^(phe) and gastric carcinomas

AIM: To explore the instabilities, polymorphisms and other variations of mitochondrial D-loop region and downstream gene 12S rRNA-tRNAPhe in gastric cancers, and to study their relationship with gastric cancer.METHODS: Three adjacent regions (D-loop, tRNAphe and 12S rRNA) were detected for instabilities, polymorphisms and other variations via PCR amplification followed by direct DNA sequencing in 22 matched gastric cancerous tissues and para-cancerous normal tissues.RESULTS: PolyC or (CA)n instabilities were detected in 13/22(59.1％) gastric cancers and 9/22(40.9 ％) in the control (P＞0.05). There existed 2/12(16.7％) and 6/10(60％)alterations of 12S rR NA-tRNAphe in well differentiated gastric cancers and poorly differentiated ones, respectively(P0.05).Some new variations were found, among which np 318 and np 321 C-T transitions in D-loop region were two of the five bases for H-strand replication primer. Np 523 AC-deletion and np 527 C-T transition occurred at mtTF1 binding site (mtTFBS), which were associated with the transcription of downstream mitochondrial genome. Seven samples showed the np 16 182 polyC instabilities, five of which simultaneously showed np 16 189 T-C transitions.CONCLUSION: There is no statistic significance of instabilities and polymorphisms in mitochondrial D-loop region between gastric cancerous and para-cancerous normal tissues, which suggests that the instability might relate to heredity or be dependent on aging. There is asignificant correlation between differentiation degree of gastric cancer and variant frequencies of 12S rRNA-tRNAphe. The poorly differentiated gastric cancers are more prone to 12S rRNAtRNAphe variations, or gastric cancers with 12S rRNA-tRNAphe variations are more likely to be poorly differentiated, np 16189 T-C transition may be one of the important reasons for polyC instability in gastric cancer.

Quantitative analysis of tumor mitochondrial RNA using microarray

AIM: To design a novel method to rapidly detect the quantitative alteration of mtRNA in patients with tumors.METHODS: Oligo 6.22 and Primer Premier 5.0 bio-soft were used to design 15 pairs of primers of mtRNA cDNA probes in light of the functional and structural property of mtDNA, and then RT-PCR amplification was used to produce 15 probes of mtRNA from one normal gastric mucosal tissue. Total RNA extracted from 9 gastric cancers and corresponding normal gastric mucosal tissues was reverse transcribed into cDNA labeled with fluorescein. The spotted mtDNA microarrays were made and hybridized. Finally,the microarrays were scanned with a GeneTACTM laser scanner to get the hybridized results. Northern blot was used to confirm the microarray results.RESULTS: The hybridized spots were distinct with clear and consistent backgrounds. After data was standardized according to the housekeeping genes, the results showed that the expression levels of some mitochondrial genes in gastric carcinoma were different from those in the corresponding non-cancerous regions.CONCLUSION: The mtDNA expression microarray can rapidly, massively and exactly detect the quantity of mtRNA in tissues and cells. In addition, the whole expressive information of mtRNA from a tumor patient on just one slide can be obtained using this method, providing an effective method to investigate the relationship between mtDNA expression and tumorigenesis.

Mutations of mitochondrial 12S rRNA in gastric carcinoma and their significance

AIM: To detect the variations of mitochondrial 12S rRNA in patients with gastric carcinoma, and to study their significance and the relationship between these variations and the genesis of gastric carcinoma.METHODS: PCR amplified mitochondrial 12S rRNA of 44 samples including 22 from gastric carcinoma tissues and 22 from adjacent normal tissues, was detected by direct DNA sequencing. Then laser capture microdissection technique (LCM) was used to separate the cancerous cells and dysplasia cells with specific mutations. Denaturing high performance liquid chromatography (DHPLC) plus allele-specific PCR (ASPCR), nest-PCR and polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (PAGE)were used to further evaluate this mutant property and quantitative difference of mutant type between cancerous and dysplasia cells. Finally, RNAdraw biosoft was used to analyze the RNA secondary structure of mutant-type 12S rRNA.RESULTS: Compared with Mitomap database, some new variations were found, among which np652 G insertion and np716 T-G transversion were found only in cancerous tissues.There was a statistic difference in the frequency of 12S rRNA variation between intestinal type (12/17, 70.59%) and diffusive type (5/17, 29.41%) of gastric carcinoma (P＜0.05).DHPLC analysis showed that 12S rRNA np652 G insertion and np716 T-G transversion were heteroplasmic mutations.The frequency of 12S rRNA variation in cancerous cells was higher than that in dysplasia cells (P＜0.01). 12S rRNA np652 G insertion showed obviously negative effects on the stability of 12S rRNA secondary structure, while others such as T-G transversion did not.CONCLUSION: The mutations of mitochondrial 12S rRNA may be associated with the occurrence of intestinal-type gastric carcinoma. Most variations exist both in gastric carcinomas and in normal tissues, and they might not be the characteristics of tumors. However, np652 G insertion and np716 T-G transversion may possess some molecular significance in gastric carcinogenesis. During the process from normality to dysplasia, then to carcinoma, 12S rRNA tends to convert from homoplasmy (wild type) to heteroplasmy,then to homoplasmy (mutant type, np717 T-G).