Abnormal expression of Pygopus 2 correlates with a malignant phenotype in human lung cancer

Abstract

BackgroundPygopus 2 (Pygo2) is a Pygo family member and an important component of the Wnt signaling transcriptional complex. Despite this data, no clinical studies investigating Pygo2 expression in lung cancer have yet been reported.MethodsIn the present study, the expression patterns of Pygo2 were evaluated by immunochemistry in 168 patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). We used small interfering RNA (siRNA) to specifically silence Pygo2, and investigated its effect on cell growth by an 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay and flow cytometry analysis in human lung cancer cell lines.ResultsImmunohistochemical analysis showed low expression of Pygo2 in normal lung tissues and increased nuclear expression in lung cancer tissues, either with or without perinuclear expression. Abnormal Pygo2 expression was associated with poor differentiation and a high Tumor (T), Node (N) and Metastases (M) stage in NSCLC patients, and correlated with poor prognosis. Using MTT assay we observed that Pygo2 downregulation inhibited cell proliferation; in addition, flow cytometry analysis showed that Pygo2 knockdown induced apoptosis and increased numbers of G1-phase cells and a reduction in S-phase cells.ConclusionsWe therefore conclude that abnormal Pygo2 protein expression may be a marker for advanced NSCLC. Furthermore, Pygo2 knockdown suppresses cell growth.

Abnormal nuclear expression of Pygopus‐2 in human primary hepatocellular carcinoma correlates with a poor prognosis

“…In the present study, abnormal Pygo2 expression was associated with poor tumour differentiation, which is consistent with findings in other cancers, such as NSCLC . However, Yang et al .…”

“…Evaluation of Pygo2 staining in HCC tissue sections was performed based on the IHC assessment method used by Popadiuk et al . for epithelial ovarian cancer and Liu Yang et al . for non‐small‐cell lung carcinoma (NSCLC).…”

Aerosol Delivery of siRNA to the Lungs. Part 2: Nanocarrier-based Delivery Systems

“…Functional genomic studies to study novel targets for lung cancer or other diseases have commonly utilized commercially available cationic lipid transfection reagents, including Lipofectamine RNAiMAX (Ramachandran S. et al, 2013), Lipofectamine2000 (Cao W. et al, 2012, Chen G. et al, 2012, Fourtounis J. et al, 2012, Huang B. et al, 2013, Liu Y. et al, 2013, Matsubara H. et al, 2012, Nishimura Y. et al, 2014, Rahman M.A. et al, 2013, Wang Y. et al, 2013, Zhang Y.-P. et al, 2012) and HiPerfect (Fourtounis J. et al, 2012).…”

Logical design of an anti‐cancer agent targeting the plant homeodomain in Pygopus2

“…S1b inset, red) may represent promising targets for inhibiting the oncogenic function of β‐catenin . Recently, Pygo2 overexpression has been reported in ovarian, breast, cervical, hepatic and lung cancers …”