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Transforming growth factor (TGF) ␤ mediates a tumor suppressor pathway in human colon epithelial cells. We were interested in identifying and characterizing novel genes regulated by the TGF␤ pathway in the colon. We employed expression microarrays to identify transcripts induced by TGF␤ in Vaco 330, a colon adenoma cell line. We then used expression microarrays to determine which of these TGF␤ induced transcripts are down-regulated in metastatic colon cancer. Northern analysis and real-time reverse transcription PCR confirmed and quantified our findings from the microarrays. These analyses highlighted C8orf4 as induced by TGF␤ in colon cells. Moreover, C8orf4 is expressed in most normal colon mucosa samples, and is not expressed in most colon cancer metastases or colon cancer cell lines. Colon cancer primary tumors showed reduced expression of C8orf4 relative to normal mucosa, possibly reflecting contributions of C8orf4 expression in stromal cells. C8orf4 is a gene regulated by TGF␤ signaling and loss in advanced colon cancer suggests C8orf4 may play a role in colon cell differentiation or growth regulation.

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