Differential expression of NF-κB heterodimer RelA/p50 in human urothelial carcinoma

Background Urothelial carcinoma (UC) is the fifth most common malignancy that accounts for 5% of all cancers. Diagnostic markers that predict UC progressions are inadequate. NF-κB contributes towards disease progression upon constitutive activation in many solid tumors. The nuclear localization of N...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Sankari Durairajan, Charles Emmanuel Jebaraj Walter, Mary Divya Samuel, Dinesh Palani, Dicky John Davis G, George Priya Doss C, Sneha Pasupati, Thanka Johnson
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: PeerJ Inc. 2018-09-01
Series:PeerJ
Subjects:
Online Access:https://peerj.com/articles/5563.pdf
Description
Summary:Background Urothelial carcinoma (UC) is the fifth most common malignancy that accounts for 5% of all cancers. Diagnostic markers that predict UC progressions are inadequate. NF-κB contributes towards disease progression upon constitutive activation in many solid tumors. The nuclear localization of NF-κB indicates increased transcriptional activity while cytoplasmic localization indicates the inactive protein repository that can be utilized readily by a malignant cell. This study delineates the nuclear and cytoplasmic differential expression of NF-κB heterodimers in UC progression. Methods The involvement of the NF-κB proteins in UC was analyzed in silico using cytoscape. The expression of NF-κB heterodimers was analyzed by immunohistochemistry. Results PINA4MS app in cytoscape revealed over expression of RelA and suppression of NF-κB1 (p50 precursor) in UC whereas the expression of NF-κB target proteins remained unhindered. Immunohistochemical localization showed nuclear RelA/p50 in low grade UC whereas in high grade only RelA expression was observed. Conversely, cytoplasmic expression of RelA/p50 remained extensive across high and low grade UC tissues (p < 0.005). RelA nuclear and cytoplasmic expression (p < 0.005) was directly proportional to the disease progression. In our study, some of the high-grade UC tissues with squamous differentiation and muscle invasion had extensive nuclear p50 localization. The phenomenon of RelA/p50 expression seen increased in low-grade UC than high grade UC might be due to their interaction with other members of NF-κB family of proteins. Thus, NF-κB RelA/p50 differential expression may play a unique role in UC pathogenesis and can serve as a biomarker for diagnosis.
ISSN:2167-8359