DPPA2 Protein Expression is Associated with Gastric Cancer Metastasis

Abstract

Gastric cancer (GC) as the fourth most common cause of malignancies shows high rate of morbidity appropriating the second leading cause of cancer-related death worldwide. Developmental pluripotency associated-2 (DPPA2), cancer-testis antigen (CT100), is commonly expressed only in the human germ line and pluripotent embryonic cells but it is also present in a significant subset of malignant tumors. To investigate whether or not DPPA2 expression is recalled in GC, our aim in this study was to elucidate DPPA2 protein expression in gastric cancer. Fifty five GC tumor and their related margin normal tissues were recruited to evaluate DPPA2 protein expression and its probable associations with different clinicopathological features of the patients. DPPA2 was overexpressed in GC cases compared with normal tissues (P < .005). While DPPA2 expression was detected in all GC samples, its high expression was found in 23 of 55 tumor tissues (41.8%). Interestingly, 50 of 55 normal samples (90.9%) were negative for DPPA2 protein expression and remained 5 samples showed very low expression of DPPA2. DPPA2 protein expression in GC was significantly correlated with lymph node metastasis (p = 0.012). The clinical relevance of DPPA2 in GC illustrated that high level expression of this protein was associated with lymph node metastasis supporting this hypothesis that alteration in DPPA2 was associated with aggressiveness of gastric cancer and may be an early event in progression of the disease. DPPA2 may be introduced as a new marker for invasive and metastatic GCs.

Dppa2/4 Facilitate Epigenetic Remodeling during Reprogramming to Pluripotency

“…Inactivation of either Dppa2 or Dppa4 causes developmental defects and lethality in both mice and frogs (Nakamura et al, 2011; Siegel et al, 2009). Furthermore, it has been suggested that both Dppa2 and Dppa4 could contribute to the development of tumors (Shabestarian et al, 2015). Thus, the mechanism presented here could provide a foundation for understanding the functions of the Dppa2/4 family in developmental and oncological contexts.…”

Transcription Factor CTCFL Promotes cell Proliferation, Migration and Invasion in Gastric Cancer Via Activating DPPA2

“…1D). As DPPA2 has been reported to be elevated in cancer cells and implicated with cell metastasis in gastric cancer 14 , we reasoned that the TF CTCFL functions on cell proliferation and metastasis in gastric cancer via targeting DPPA2.…”

“…It has been reported that DPPA2 is differentially expressed in diverse cancer types and can be used as a speci c therapeutic target in some tumors, such as non-small cell lung cancer, ovarian cancer, colon cancer, lymphoma and melanoma 13 . In addition, the role of DPPA2 in gastric cancer has been explored in some reports, yet further veri cation needs to be further carried out 14 .…”

Keeping your options open: insights from Dppa2/4 into how epigenetic priming factors promote cell plasticity

“…Epigenetic priming factors, responsible for establishing this dynamic and permissive landscape, are often deregulated in cancers. For example Dppa2/4 are frequently up-regulated in human cancers including lung [56], ovarian [57], colon [58,59], colorectal [60] and gastric cancers [61], amongst others [62][63][64][65][66], likely due to the global demethylation that occurs in cancer cells, and are often associated with poor prognosis [57][58][59][60][61]65]. Currently the majority of studies have been correlative, however there are some research suggesting that Dppa2/4 may be contributing to tumorigenesis.…”