Expression of evolutionarily novel genes in tumors

Abstract

The evolutionarily novel genes originated through different molecular mechanisms are expressed in tumors. Sometimes the expression of evolutionarily novel genes in tumors is highly specific. Moreover positive selection of many human tumor-related genes in primate lineage suggests their involvement in the origin of new functions beneficial to organisms. It is suggested to consider the expression of evolutionarily young or novel genes in tumors as a new biological phenomenon, a phenomenon of TSEEN (tumor specifically expressed, evolutionarily novel) genes.

Fig. 1

PBOV1 expression measured by PCR in cDNA panels from human tumors. a Tumor cDNA Panel (BioChain Institute, USA): 1 – Brain medulloblastoma, with glioma, 2 – Lung squamous cell carcinoma, 3 – Kidney granular cell carcinoma, 4 – Kidney clear cell carcinoma, 5 – Liver cholangiocellular carcinoma, 6 – Hepatocellular carcinoma, 7 – Gallbladder adenocarcinoma, 8 – Esophagus squamous cell carcinoma, 9 – Stomach signet ring cell carcinoma, 10 – Small Intestine adenocarcinoma, 11 – Colon papillary adenocarcinoma, 12 – Rectum adenocarcinoma, 13 – Breast fibroadenoma, 14 – Ovary serous cystoadenocarcinoma, 15 – Fallopian tube medullary carcinoma, 16 – Uterus adenocarcinoma, 17 – Ureter papillary transitional cell carcinoma, 18 – Bladder transitional cell carcinoma, 19 – Testis seminoma, 20 – Prostate adenocarcinoma, 21 – Malignant melanoma, 22 – Skeletal Muscle malignancy fibrous histocytoma, 23 – Adrenal pheochromocytoma, 24 – Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, 25 – Thyroid papillary adenocarcinoma, 26 – Parotid mixed tumor, 27 – Pancreas adenocarcinoma, 28 – Thymus seminoma, 29 – Spleen serous adenocarcinoma, 30 – Hodgkin’s lymphoma, 31 – T cell Hodgkin’s lymphoma, 32 – Malignant lymphoma. NC – PCR with no template, PC – PCR with human DNA. b PBOV1 expression in clinical tumor samples. PBOV1 is expressed in breast cancer (9–250), ovary cancer (1, 6), cervical cancer (2, 13), endometrial cancer (156, 270), lung cancer (12, 14, 17), seminoma (7), meningioma (63), non-Hodgkin lymphomas (67, 82, 92, 102, 113). From open access paper [165]. Copyright of authors

Fig. 2

Expression of PBOV1 and GAPDH (positive control) measured by PCR in cDNA panels from human normal tissues. a Human MTC Panel I (1–8), Human MTC Panel II (9–16): 1 – brain, 2 ¬– heart, 3 – kidney, 4 – liver, 5 – lung, 6 – pancreas, 7 – placenta, 8 – skeletal muscle, 9 – colon, 10 – ovary, 11 – peripheral blood leukocyte, 12 – prostate, 13 – small intestine, 14 – spleen, 15 – testis, 16 – thymus. b Human Digestive System MTC Panel: 1 – cecum, 2 – colon, ascending 3 – colon, descending 4 – colon, transverse 5 – duodenum, 6 – esophagus, 7 – ileocecum, 8 – ileum, 9 – jejunum, 10 – liver, 11 – rectum, 12 – stomach. c Human Immune System MTC Panel (1–7), Human Fetal MTC Panel(8–15): 1 – bone marrow, 2 – fetal liver, 3 – lymph node, 4 – peripheral blood leukocyte, 5 – spleen, 6 – thymus, 7 – tonsil, 8 – fetal brain, 9 – fetal heart, 10 – fetal kidney, 11 – fetal liver, 12 – fetal lung, 13 – fetal skeletal muscle, 14 – fetal spleen, 15 – fetal thymus; A-C: NC – PCR with no template, PC – PCR with human DNA. From open access paper [165]. Copyright of authors