Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2005 Sep 27:5:124.
doi: 10.1186/1471-2407-5-124.

Differential expression of MUC genes in endometrial and cervical tissues and tumors

Vidya Hebbar  1 , Gautam Damera, Goverdhan P Sachdev
Affiliations

Differential expression of MUC genes in endometrial and cervical tissues and tumors

Vidya Hebbar et al. BMC Cancer. .

Abstract

Background: Mucin glycoprotein's are major components of mucus and are considered an important class of tumor associated antigens. The objective of this study was to investigate the expression of human MUC genes (MUC1, MUC2, MUC5B, MUC5AC and MUC8) in human endometrium and cervix, and to compare and quantitate the expression of MUC genes in normal and cancerous tissues.

Methods: Slot blot techniques were used to study the MUC gene expression and quantitation.

Results: Of the five-mucin genes studied, MUC1, MUC5B and MUC8 showed high expression levels in the normal and cancerous endometrial and cervical tissues, MUC2 and MUC5AC showed considerably lower expression. Statistically, higher levels of MUC1, MUC5B and MUC8 were observed in endometrial adenocarcinomas compared to normal tissues. In contrast, only MUC1 levels increased with no significant changes in expression of MUC5B and MUC8 in cervical tumors over normal cervical tissues.

Conclusion: Endometrial tumors showed increased expression of MUC1, MUC5B and MUC8 over normal tissues. Only MUC1 appears to be increase, in cervical tumors. All the studied tissues showed high and consistent expression of MUC8 mRNA. Low to neglible levels of MUC2 and MUC5AC were observed in all studied endometrial and cervical tissues.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Slot blot analyses of total RNA from endometrial normal (EN) and tumors (EA) tissues using mucin MUC1 cDNA probe. Each graph is representative of three experimental replicates. Data normalized using β-actin as described in Methods.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Slot blot analyses of total RNA from endometrial normal (EN) and tumors (EA) tissues using mucin MUC5B cDNA probe. The data was normalized using β-actin as described in Methods section.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Slot blot analyses of total RNA from endometrial normal (EN) and tumors (EA) tissues using mucin MUC8 cDNA probe. The data was normalized using β-actin. Note: Larger scale used, indicative of higher expression of MUC8.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Analyses of total RNA from cervical normal (CN) and tumors (CA) tissues using MUC1 cDNA probe. Data was normalized using β-actin cDNA probe.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Analyses of total RNA from cervical normal (CN) and tumors (CA) tissues using MUC5B cDNA probe. Data was normalized using β-actin as described in Methods section.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Analyses of total RNA from cervical normal (CN) and tumors (CA) using MUC8 cDNA probe. Data was normalized using β-actin as described in Methods section. Note: Larger scale used, indicative of higher expression of MUC8.
Figure 7
Figure 7
Box plots showing the relationship between MUC gene expression in endometrial tumors tissues (EA) and normal tissues (EN). (a) MUC1 (b) MUC5B (c) MUC8.
Figure 8
Figure 8
Box plots showing the relationship between MUC gene expression in cervical tumors tissues (CA) and normal tissues (CN). (a) MUC1 (b) MUC5B (c) MUC8.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Rose MC. Mucins: structure, function, and role in pulmonary diseases. Am J Physiol. 1992;263:L413–29. - PubMed
    1. Gum JRJ. Mucin genes and the proteins they encode: structure, diversity, and regulation. Am J Respir Cell Mol Biol. 1992;7:557–564. - PubMed
    1. Strous GJ, Dekker J. Mucin-type glycoproteins. Crit Rev Biochem Mol Biol. 1992;27:57–92. - PubMed
    1. Hareuveni M, Tsarfaty I, Zaretsky J, Kotkes P, Horev J, Zrihan S, Weiss M, Green S, Lathe R, Keydar I, et al. A transcribed gene, containing a variable number of tandem repeats, codes for a human epithelial tumor antigen. cDNA cloning, expression of the transfected gene and over-expression in breast cancer tissue. Eur J Biochem. 1990;189:475–486. doi: 10.1111/j.1432-1033.1990.tb15512.x. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Shankar V, Pichan P, Eddy RLJ, Tonk V, Nowak N, Sait SN, Shows TB, Schultz RE, Gotway G, Elkins RC, Gilmore MS, Sachdev GP. Chromosomal localization of a human mucin gene (MUC8) and cloning of the cDNA corresponding to the carboxy terminus. Am J Respir Cell Mol Biol. 1997;16:232–241. - PubMed

Publication types

MeSH terms