GTSF1 gene may serve as a novel potential diagnostic biomarker for liver cancer

Abstract

Abstract. The gametocyte-specific factor 1 (GTSF1) gene participates in DNA methylation and retrotransposon activation in germ cells, particularly during cell proliferation. The present study aimed to assess the level of GTSF1 gene expression in liver cancer tumor tissues, and its role in human hepatoma cell lines in vitro and in a nude mouse model in vivo. GTSF1 gene expression was detected in liver cancer tumor tissues, compared with in healthy controls, via reverse transcription quantitative polymerase chain reaction. An adeno-associated virus vector was used to study tumor stem cell proliferation in vivo. A plasmid expressing GTSF1 was constructed and transfected into various human hepatoma cell lines, in order to analyze the cellular proliferation and apoptosis of liver cancer cells using small interfering (si)RNAs in vitro. In the present study, GTSF1 gene expression was detected in 18/24 (75.0%) liver cancer tumor tissues from patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), and elevated GTSF1 expression was identified in the tissue of one of 32 healthy control samples (3.13%; P<0.05). Notably, the GTSF1 gene was expressed at a higher frequency in AFP-positive HCC samples (14/16, 87.50%) compared with in AFP-negative HCC samples (4/8, 50.0%; P=0.129). In addition, there was no statistical significance between GTSF1 expression in non-HBV-infected (71.42%) and HBV-infected HCC specimens (76.47%), as determined by a χ 2 test (P=0.921). It was demonstrated that GTSF1 significantly increased the tumorigenicity of Ad-shNC-transfected (GTSF1-positive) HepG2 cells in the nude mouse xenograft model, whereas the sizes and weights of the tumors in the GTSF1-negative group were dercreased in comparison with the GTSF1-positive group (P<0.05). Reduced levels of GTSF1 mRNA, along with fewer and smaller colonies, were identified in two groups of human liver cancer cells treated with with GTSF1-targeting siRNA, when compared with cells without GTSF1 mRNA interference (P<0.05). In summary, the present study elucidated the GTSF1 mRNA expression pattern in liver cancer, and investigated the potential role of GTSF1 in tumorigenesis. The data suggest an important role for the GTSF1 gene in the molecular etiology of hepatocarcinogenesis, and indicate a potential application of GTSF1 mRNA expression in liver cancer diagnosis and therapy.

New Insights From Imputed Whole-Genome Sequence-Based Genome-Wide Association Analysis and Transcriptome Analysis: The Genetic Mechanisms Underlying Residual Feed Intake in Chickens

“…The other is GTSF1, which came from the Uncharacterized Protein Family 0224 (UPF0224), could encode a 167-amino acid protein, and played an important role in liver cancer. Compared with those of the GTSF1-positive group, the sizes and the weights of the tumors of liver cancer in the GTSF1negative group were decreased significantly (P < 0.05) (Gao et al, 2018). Moreover, RASD1 was the only one overlapped gene between the GWAS results and the DEGs between the high-RFI and the low-RFI groups.…”

Karyopherin α2-dependent import of E2F1 and TFDP1 maintains protumorigenic stathmin expression in liver cancer

“…Among these with a log 2 fold change of − 1.47 was gametocyte-specific factor 1 (GTSF1), which is a factor involved in spermatogenesis and retrotransposon transcription in male germ cells [28]. In addition, GTSF1 was demonstrated to be overexpressed at the transcript level in HCC [29]. The same study also found that siRNA-mediated GTSF1 knockdown reduced tumor cell growth in a xenograft mouse model.…”

Methylation-driven mechanisms of allergic rhinitis during pollen and non-pollen seasons using integrated bioinformatics analysis

“…Methylation-driven genes specific to the pollen season include ZNF667-AS1 , AHNAK , ORMDL3 , RASSF1 , TGFBR2 , GTSF1 and LEF1-AS1 ( Figure 4A ). Through literature retrieval, it has been confirmed that 4 out of the 7 unique genes are regulated by DNA methylation in their transcription ( Gao et al, 2018 ; Walter et al, 2018 ; Wu et al, 2018 ; Ma et al, 2020 ), which may reflect the response of AR to pollen exposure. Based on data on olive pollen allergy (GSE54522), the first four of these genes ( ZNF667-AS1 , AHNAK , ORMDL3 and RASSF1 ) were confirmed ( Figure 5G ).…”