Mutational Analysis of Caspase-7 and 8 Genes in Non-small Cell Lung Cancer

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: Several lines of evidence have indicated that deregulation of apoptosis is involved in the mechanism of cancer development. Caspase-8 activation plays a central role in the initiation phase of apoptosis, while caspase-7 is one of the main execution phase caspases of apoptosis. The aim of this study was to explore the possibility that genetic alterations of the caspase-8 and caspase-7 genes are involved in the development of human non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). MATERIALS AND METHODS: We have analyzed the entire coding region of both the caspase-7 and caspase-8 genes to detect the somatic mutations in 100 NSCLCs by using polymerase chain reaction (PCR)- single strand conformation polymorphism (SSCP). RESULTS: The PCR-SSCP analysis detected no mutations in the entire coding regions of both the caspase-7 and caspase-8 genes in the NSCLCs. CONCLUSION: The data presented here suggests that both the caspase-7 and caspase-8 genes may not be somatically mutated in human NSCLCs