Identification of tumor metastasis-related gene TMSG-1 by mRNA differential display

To investigate genes involved in cancer metastasis, mRNA differential display was used to compare the levels of gene expression of two cancer sublines derived from prostate carcinoma cell PC-3M that had different metastatic potentials. The differentially expressed genes were confirmed by Northern blot, and sequenced. The full-length cDNA of a tumor metastasis suppressor gene (TMSG-1) was obtained by using EST assembling and verified by RT-PCR and sequencing. The results showed that expression levels of TMSG-1 were lower in the highly metastatic cell line 1E8, compared with the non-metastatic cell line 2B4. The difference was significant. Full-length cDNA of TMSG-1 was about 2 kb, containing an open reading frame that encoded a protein of 230 amino acids. GenBank Blastn showed no marked homology with known genes. The functional prediction of amino acids sequence encoded by TMSG-1 gene indicated TMSG-1 protein was transmembrane protein, with 3 transmembrane domains, 3 putative protein kinase phosphorylation sites, 2 casein kinase I I phosphorylation sites and 1 N-myristoylation site. The pattern of TMSG-1 expression in 6 types of human tumor tissues indicated levels of transcripts were the highest in prostate carcinoma. TMSG-1 had lower expression in metastases of lung carcinoma compared to primary lung carcinoma. Similarly the expression levels were higher in well-differentiated colon carcinoma than that in poorly differentiated colon carcinoma. TMSG-1 could also be detected in breast, ovarian, and pancreatic carcinoma. In 9 samples of primary gastric carcinoma tissues, RT-PCR and densitometric analysis demonstrated TMSG-1 expression levels in samples with lymph node metastases; had a decreased tendency, compared to those without lymph node metastases. The difference was significant by student's t test (P<0.05). These results indicated TMSG-1 expression levels were inversely correlated with tumor metastatic potential.