ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Differential expression of the eukaryotic release factor 3 (eRF3/GSPT1) according to gastric cancer histological types

J Malta-Vacas¹, C Aires¹, P Costa¹, A R Conde², S Ramos³, A P Martins³, C Monteiro² and M Brito¹

¹ Escola Superior de Tecnologia da Saúde de Lisboa, 1990-096 Lisboa, Portugal
² Faculdade de Farmácia da Universidade de Lisboa, 1649-019 Lisboa, Portugal
³ Serviço de Anatomia Patológica, Hospital de Santa Cruz, 2795 Carnaxide, Portugal

Correspondence to:
Correspondence to:
Professor M Brito
Escola Superior de Tecnologia da Saúde de Lisboa, Avenue D. João II lote 4.69.01, 1990-096 Lisboa, Portugal; miguel.brito{at}estesl.pt

Background: There are now several lines of evidence to suggest that protein synthesis and translation factors are involved in the regulation of cell proliferation and cancer development.

Aims: To investigate gene expression patterns of eukaryotic releasing factor 3 (eRF3) in gastric cancer.

Methods: RNA was prepared from 25 gastric tumour biopsies and adjacent non-neoplastic mucosa. Real time TaqMan reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) was performed to measure the relative gene expression levels. DNA was isolated from tumour and normal tissues and gene dosage was determined by a quantitative real time PCR using SYBR Green dye.

Results: Different histological types of gastric tumours were analysed and nine of the 25 tumours revealed eRF3/GSPT1 overexpression; moreover, eight of the 12 intestinal type carcinomas analysed overexpressed the gene, whereas eRF3/GSPT1 was overexpressed in only one of the 10 diffuse type carcinomas (Kruskal-Wallis Test; p < 0.05). No correlation was found between ploidy and transcript expression levels of eRF3/GSPT1. Overexpression of eRF3/GSPT1 was not associated with increased translation rates because the upregulation of eRF3/GSPT1 did not correlate with increased eRF1 levels.

Conclusions: Overexpression of eRF3/GSPT1 in intestinal type gastric tumours may lead to an increase in the translation efficiency of specific oncogenic transcripts. Alternatively, eRF3/GSPT1 may be involved in tumorigenesis as a result of its non-translational roles, namely (dis)regulating the cell cycle, apoptosis, or transcription.

Abbreviations: eIF, eukaryotic initiating factor; eRF, eukaryotic release factor; PCR, polymerase chain reaction; RT, reverse transcription

Keywords: gastric cancer; eRF3/GSPT1; gene expression; real time polymerase chain reaction; translation machinery

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