Cancer-Testis Gene Biomarkers Discovered in Colon Cancer Patients

Mikhlid H Almutairi; Turki M Alrubie; Abdullah M Alamri; Bader O Almutairi; Abdulwahed F Alrefaei; Maha M Arafah; Mohammad Alanazi; Abdelhabib Semlali

doi:10.3390/genes13050807

Cancer-Testis Gene Biomarkers Discovered in Colon Cancer Patients

Genes (Basel). 2022 May 1;13(5):807. doi: 10.3390/genes13050807.

Authors

Mikhlid H Almutairi¹, Turki M Alrubie¹, Abdullah M Alamri², Bader O Almutairi¹, Abdulwahed F Alrefaei¹, Maha M Arafah³, Mohammad Alanazi², Abdelhabib Semlali⁴

Affiliations

¹ Zoology Department, College of Science, King Saud University, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia.
² Genome Research Chair, Department of Biochemistry, College of Science, King Saud University, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia.
³ Pathology Department, College of Medicine, King Saud University, Riyadh 11461, Saudi Arabia.
⁴ Groupe de Recherche en Écologie Buccale, Faculté de Médecine Dentaire, Université Laval, 2420 Rue de la Terrasse, Local 1758, Quebec City, QC G1V 0A6, Canada.

Abstract

In Saudi Arabia, colon cancer (CC) is the most prevalent cancer in men and the third most common cancer in women. Rather than being detected through screening programs, most CC cases are diagnosed mainly during clinical exams. Because of the slow growth of CC and its ability to be treated at an early stage, screening for CC can reduce the incidence of death and mortality. Consequently, there is an urgent need to identify a potential new cancer-specific biomarker for detecting early illness. Much research has been conducted on distinct antigen classes as potential new cancer-specific biomarkers for the early identification of malignancy. The cancer-testis antigens (CTAs) are one such category of antigens, with protein presence largely normally confined to human germ line cells in the testis and aberrantly produced in some cancer cells. CTAs are potentially valuable for use as cancer biomarkers and in cancer therapeutics due to their distinctive expression pattern. The aim of this current study was to identify potential cancer-testis (CT) gene biomarkers in Saudi Arabian CC patients. In this study, a total of 20 matching CC and normal colon (NC) tissues were obtained from the Saudi population. Any genes that showed expression in CC tissues but not in matching NC tissues were subsequently verified for mRNA expression in eight breast and eight leukemia malignancies using RT-PCR to determine the specificity of any CC biomarkers. CTAG1A, SPZ1, LYZL6, SCP2D1, TEX33, and TKTL2 genes were expressed in varying numbers of CC tissues compared to no measurable expressions in all NC tissue specimens, making these genes suitable potential candidates for CC markers. The most frequently expressed CT genes in CC patients were CTAG1A (35%) and SCP2D1 (35%), followed by TKTL2 (25%), SPZ1 (20%), LYZL6 (15%), and TEX33 (5%). The LYZL6 gene shows a weak RT-PCR product in 25% of breast cancer (BC) patients but not in leukemia patients. The SCP2D1 gene appears to display expression in all leukemia patients but not in the BC patients. TKTL2 expression was also observed in 50% of leukemia samples but not in the BC samples. More experiments at the protein level and with a larger cohort of patients are required to evaluate this finding.

Keywords: biomarker; cancer-testis genes; colon cancer; gene expression.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Basic Helix-Loop-Helix Leucine Zipper Transcription Factors / genetics
Biomarkers, Tumor / metabolism
Breast Neoplasms*
Colonic Neoplasms* / genetics
Female
Genetic Markers
Humans
Leukemia*
Male
Saudi Arabia
Testicular Neoplasms* / genetics
Testicular Neoplasms* / metabolism

Substances

Basic Helix-Loop-Helix Leucine Zipper Transcription Factors
Biomarkers, Tumor
Genetic Markers
SPZ1 protein, human

Grants and funding

This work was funded by the National Plan for Science, Technology and Innovation (MAARIFAH), King Abdul-Aziz City for Science and Technology, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, grant number 2-17-01-001-0069.