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Objective@#To study the situation of the mutations in the A(8) and A(9) loci of exon 8 of retinoblastoma protein-interacting zinc finger gene (RIZ) of keloid patients.@*Methods@#From January 2003 to December 2007, 19 outpatient and hospitalized keloid patients of our hospital were conforming to the inclusion criteria. Both 3-5 g keloid tissue and 3 mL peripheral venous blood were collected from each patient to extract their genomic DNA, and the concentration was determined. The A(8) and A(9) loci fragments of exon 8 of RIZ were amplified by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). The length of product was detected by agarose gel electrophoresis, and DNA sequencing was performed after column chromatography. The mutations of A(8) and A(9) loci fragments were searched, and the types of mutations were determined. The consistency of genetic mutations of the keloid tissue and peripheral venous blood were compared. Data were processed with McNemar test.@*Results@#The DNA concentrations of the extracted keloid tissue and peripheral venous blood were 0.54 and 0.37 μg/μL, respectively, which were above 0.10 μg/μL. The lengths of PCR products of A(8) locus fragment DNA of exon 8 of RIZ from keloid tissue and peripheral venous blood were 235 and 238 bp, respectively, and those of A(9) locus were 242 and 244 bp, respectively, which were basically the same as the designed DNA fragments. PCR products purity of A(8) locus fragment DNA of exon 8 of RIZ from keloid tissue and peripheral venous blood were 1.81 and 1.75, respectively, and those of A(9) locus were 1.82 and 1.78, respectively, which were above 1.50. Mutations in the A(8) locus of exon 8 of RIZ were observed in keloid tissue of 18 patients, totally 6 gene mutations, including 4 point mutations and 2 frameshift mutations. Mutations in the A(9) locus of exon 8 of RIZ were observed in keloid tissue of 9 patients, totally 9 gene mutations, including 7 point mutations and 2 frameshift mutations. No patient had a mutation in the A(8) or A(9) locus of exon 8 of RIZ in peripheral venous blood. Compared with those of peripheral venous blood, the mutations in the A(8) and A(9) loci of exon 8 of RIZ in keloid tissue of patients were statistically significant (χ2=16.06, 7.11, P<0.05).@*Conclusions@#Point mutations and frameshift mutations occur in the A(8) and A(9) loci of exon 8 of RIZ in keloids of patients, which may be associated with the occurrence of keloids.
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Objective To investigate the expression and clinical significance of zinc finger gene 217 (ZNF217) in human papillary thyroid carcinoma.Methods The expressions of ZNF217 mRNA and protein were detected by quantitative realtime PCR and Western blot in papillary thyroid carcinoma tissues (n =20) and adjacent normal tissues (n =20),and the data were analyzed.Results The expressions of ZNF217 mRNA and protein in papillary thyroid carcinoma were significantly higher than those in adjacent normal tissues (96.72 ± 44.19 vs 4.86 ±3.55,0.994 ± 0.172 vs 0.195 ± 0.061,both P＜0.01),being higher in the papillary thyroid carcinoma with capsule invasion compared with that without capsule invasion (P＜0.01).The expressions of ZNF217 mRNA and protein in papillary thyroid carcinoma were not related to gender,age,tumor size,TNM stage or lymph node metastasis (all P＞0.05).Conclusions The overexpression of ZNF217 may be associated with the oncogenesis and progress of papillary thyroid carcinoma and capsule invasion,and thus is expected to become a new target for prevention and treatment of papillary thyroid carcinoma.
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Typical programmed cell death requires de novo macromolecular synthesis and shares common morphological changes referred to as apoptosis. To elucidate the molecular mechanism of apoptosis, we isolated 13 cDNA clones of zinc finger genes that are differentially expressed in calcium ionophore-induced apoptosis of Ramos human B cell by 'targeted RNA fingerprinting' protocol (Stone & Wharton, 1993). According to DNA sequence analysis of the 13 cDNA clones, three clones are identical with ZNF7, ZNF143 and MTB-Zf, respectively, and 8 out of the other 10 clones showed partial homology to known zinc finger genes. Differential expression was confirmed in the three known zinc finger genes by ribonuclease protection assay. ZNF7 and ZNF143 are up-regulated after induction of apoptosis, and, in contrast, MTB-Zf is down-regulated. According to the previous reports on these three genes, all of the three genes have been suspected to be tumor suppressor genes, but their functions have not been identified yet. Taken together, our results suggest that many of the novel and known zinc finger genes might play important roles in regulation of apoptosis and that these findings also provide clues as to the functions of the three putative tumor suppressor genes, ZNF7, ZNF143 and MTB-Zf in terms of apoptosis. In addition, the isolation of zinc finger genes by targeted RNA fingerprinting could be a straightforward approach for the identification of novel candidate genes associated with apoptosis.