Death receptor 4 variants and colorectal cancer risk.

The tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis-inducing ligand receptor modulates apoptotic response by binding to the proapoptotic death receptor 4 (DR4). Perturbed apoptosis due to missense alterations in the candidate tumor suppressor gene DR4 leads to deregulated cell proliferation and cancer predisposition. Recent studies have discussed the association of DR4 variants with cancer risk. We evaluated, for the first time, the role of the Thr(209)Arg (626C>G) and Glu(228)Ala (683A>C) polymorphisms on colorectal cancer risk by genotyping 659 incident cases and 607 healthy controls drawn from the German population-based Darmkrebs: Chancen der Verhütung durch Screening (DACHS) study. Whereas DR4 Glu(228)Ala was not associated with colorectal cancer, Thr(209)Arg heterozygotes were at a significantly decreased colorectal cancer risk [odds ratio (OR), 0.73; 95% confidence interval (95% CI), 0.54-0.97]. Stratification according to sex and age exhibited a significant association of Thr(209)Arg with a decreased risk for male heterozygotes (OR, 0.68; 95% CI, 0.46-0.99) and for Arg(209) carriers > or =65 years of age (OR, 0.65; 95% CI, 0.46-0.92) as well as an enhanced risk for female Ala(228) carriers in a allele dose-dependent manner (P(trend) = 0.01). Subsite analysis revealed a protective effect of Thr(209)Arg for rectal cancer risk (OR, 0.67; 95% CI, 0.48-0.95) and a significant risk increase for Ala(228) carriers with advanced colorectal cancer stages (P(trend) = 0.04). Haplotype analysis revealed a 2.4-fold risk for carriers of the rare 626C-683C haplotype (1% prevalence in the general population; OR, 2.37; 95% CI, 0.98-5.76). The score statistic yielded an empirical P of 0.03 of the haplotype-specific test for 626C-683C based on 20,000 simulations, suggesting that DR4 626C-683C may affect colorectal cancer predisposition.

The parafibromin tumor suppressor protein is part of a human Paf1 complex.

Parafibromin, the product of the HRPT2 (hyperparathyroidism-jaw tumor syndrome 2) tumor suppressor gene, is the human homologue of yeast Cdc73, part of the yeast RNA polymerase II/Paf1 complex known to be important for histone modification and connections to posttranscriptional events. By purifying cellular parafibromin and characterizing its associated proteins, we have identified a human counterpart to the yeast Paf1 complex including homologs of Leo1, Paf1, and Ctr9. Like the yeast complex, the parafibromin complex associates with the nonphosphorylated and Ser2 and Ser5 phosphorylated forms of the RNA polymerase II large subunit. Immunofluorescence experiments show that parafibromin is a nuclear protein. In addition, cotransfection data suggest that parafibromin can interact with a histone methyltransferase complex that methylates histone H3 on lysine 4. Some mutant forms of parafibromin lack association with hPaf1 complex members and with the histone methyltransferase complex, suggesting that disruption of these complexes may correlate with the oncogenic process.

Menin associates with a trithorax family histone methyltransferase complex and with the hoxc8 locus.

The cellular function of the menin tumor suppressor protein, product of the MEN1 gene mutated in familial multiple endocrine neoplasia type 1, has not been defined. We now show that menin is associated with a histone methyltransferase complex containing two trithorax family proteins, MLL2 and Ash2L, and other homologs of the yeast Set1 assembly. This menin-associated complex methylates histone H3 on lysine 4. A subset of tumor-derived menin mutants lacks the associated histone methyltransferase activity. In addition, menin is associated with RNA polymerase II whose large subunit carboxyl-terminal domain is phosphorylated on Ser 5. Men1 knockout embryos and cells show decreased expression of the homeobox genes Hoxc6 and Hoxc8. Chromatin immunoprecipitation experiments reveal that menin is bound to the Hoxc8 locus. These results suggest that menin activates the transcription of differentiation-regulating genes by covalent histone modification, and that this activity is related to tumor suppression by MEN1.

Short interfering RNAs can induce unexpected and divergent changes in the levels of untargeted proteins in mammalian cells.

RNA interference (RNAi) mediated by short interfering RNAs (siRNAs) is a widely used method to analyze gene function. To use RNAi knockdown accurately to infer gene function, it is essential to determine the specificity of siRNA-mediated RNAi. We have assessed the specificity of 10 different siRNAs corresponding to the MEN1 gene by examining the expression of two additional genes, TP53 (p53) and CDKN1A (p21), which are considered functionally unrelated to menin but are sensitive markers of cell state. MEN1 RNA and corresponding protein levels were all reduced after siRNA transfection of HeLa cells, although the degree of inhibition mediated by individual siRNAs varied. Unexpectedly, we observed dramatic and significant changes in protein levels of p53 and p21 that were unrelated to silencing of the target gene. The modulations in p53 and p21 levels were not abolished on titration of the siRNAs, and similar results were obtained in three other cell lines; in none of the cell lines tested did we see an effect on the protein levels of actin. These data suggest that siRNAs can induce nonspecific effects on protein levels that are siRNA sequence dependent but that these effects may be difficult to detect until genes central to a pivotal cellular response, such as p53 and p21, are studied. We find no evidence that activation of the double-stranded RNA-triggered IFN-associated antiviral pathways accounts for these effects, but we speculate that partial complementary sequence matches to off-target genes may result in a micro-RNA-like inhibition of translation.