Molecular cloning and functional analysis of a novel oncogene, cancer-upregulated gene 2 (CUG2)

Journal Article · Fri Aug 31 00:00:00 EDT 2007 · Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbrc.2007.06.102· OSTI ID:20991513

Lee, Soojin ^[1]; Gang, Jingu ^[2]; Jeon, Sun Bok ^[3]; Choo, Seung Ho ^[3]; Lee, Bogman ^[3]; Kim, Young-Gun ^[3]; Lee, Yang Soon ^[4]; Jung, Jinyoung ^[1]; Song, Si Young ^[2]; Koh, Sang Seok ^[4]

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1. Department of Microbiology, Chungnam National University, Daejeon 305-764 (Korea, Republic of)
2. Department of Internal Medicine, Brain Korea 21 Project for Medical Science, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul (Korea, Republic of)
3. LG Life Sciences, Ltd./R and D Park, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of)
4. Korea Research Institute of Bioscience and Biotechnology, Daejeon 305-333 (Korea, Republic of)

We examined genome-wide differences in gene expression between tumor biopsies and normal tissues in order to identify differentially regulated genes in tumors. Cancer-upregulated gene 2 (CUG2) was identified as an expressed sequence tag (EST) that exhibits significant differential expression in multiple human cancer types. CUG2 showed weak sequence homology with the down-regulator of transcription 1 (DR1) gene, a human transcription repressor. We found that EGFP-CUG2 fusion proteins were predominantly localized in the nucleus, suggesting their putative role in gene regulation. In addition, CUG2-overexpressing mouse fibroblast cells exhibited distinct cancer-specific phenotypes in vitro and developed into tumors in nude mice. Taken together, these findings suggest that CUG2 is a novel tumor-associated gene that is commonly activated in various human cancers and exhibits high transforming activities; it possibly belongs to a transcription regulator family that is involved in tumor biogenesis.

• OSTI ID: 20991513
• Journal Information: Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications, Vol. 360, Issue 3; Other Information: DOI: 10.1016/j.bbrc.2007.06.102; PII: S0006-291X(07)01345-9; Copyright (c) 2007 Elsevier Science B.V., Amsterdam, The Netherlands, All rights reserved; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0006-291X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES
BIOPSY
CLONING
DRUGS
FIBROBLASTS
FUNCTIONAL ANALYSIS
GENE REGULATION
IN VITRO
MICE
NEOPLASMS
ONCOGENES
PHENOTYPE
PROTEINS
TRANSCRIPTION