Carcinogenesis Advance Access published online on October 29, 2007
Carcinogenesis, doi:10.1093/carcin/bgm203
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ECRG1, a novel esophageal gene, cloned and identified from human esophagus and its inhibition effect on tumors
Cancer Institute, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical College
* Corresponding author. Shih Hsin, Lu, Fax: +86-10-6771-2368, E-mail address: shlu{at}public.bta.net.cn
ECRG-1(Esophagus cancer related gene 1) has been previously found to be down-regulated in human Esophagus cancer. Transient expression of GFP tagged ECRG-1 showed plasma membrane localization. Treatment of esophagus cancer cell line (NEC) with ECRG- fusion protein and over-expression of ECRG-1 in NEC cells can significantly reduce the in vitro proliferation rate of NEC cells. Treatment of established NEC tumors in the nude mice with ECRG-1 fusion protein leads to decreased tumor weight and volume. Over-expression of ECRG-1 in NEC cells can also inhibit tumor formation in nude mice. Cell cycle analysis showed that over-expression of ECRG-1 in NEC cells results in G2-M phase arrest. Our findings indicate that ECRG-1 may be a candidate tumor suppressor gene for esophageal cancer involved in cell cycle control. Since ECRG-1 gene significantly suppresses the growth of NEC cells both in vitro and in vivo, its loss may contribute to the causation and progression of the EC in Lin-xian County, which is a high incidence area of esophageal cancer in China.
Key Words: ECRG1 gene esophageal cancer fusion protein
Received January 26, 2007; revised August 28, 2007; accepted August 31, 2007.