Evaluating of suppressor of zeste 12 and chromobox homolog 8 genes expression showed two possible origins for gastric cancer development

Abstract

Context: Changes in genome, made by multiple genetic and epigenetic alterations result to the cancer initiation and progression. Suppressor of zeste 12 (SUZ12) and chromobox homolog 8 (CBX8) proteins are two components of epigenetic regulators that their function in the initiation and progression of cancers are not well-understood. Aims: The role of SUZ12 and its target CBX8 is examined. Settings And Design: Comparing the expression levels of SUZ12 and CBX8 between 30 gastric tumor and their marginal tissues. Materials And Methods: Quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction technique was performed. Statistical Analysis: Statistical comparison was carried out using Statistical Program for Social Sciences software 16.0 (Released 2007, SPSS for Windows. SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL, USA) and (GraphPad Prism version 5 for Windows, GraphPad Software, La Jolla, California USA, ww.graphpad.com).Results: Despite the obvious differences in the expression of these genes in each sample for tumor and its marginal tissue, statistical analysis did not show significant differences in the mean of expression for SUZ12 and CBX8 genes in total. Due to the variation in expression levels, the samples could be divided into two groups for each gene; group 1, in which the genes were overexpressed in tumor and group 2, in which the genes were down regulated in tumor samples. Conclusion: We found that in each group, the difference in the SUZ12 and CBX8 genes expression were significantly divergent between tumors and their marginal tissues. It means that the regulatory mechanisms involved in developing and controlling the process of gastric cancer pathogenesis is more complex than it thought. These results also bring new evidence on the possible double origin for gastric cancer development, bone-marrow-derived cells and tissue stem cells.