<p>Clinicopathological Characteristics of TZAP Expression in Colorectal Cancers</p>

Abstract

Purpose The zinc finger protein, ZBTB48, is a telomere-associated protein. It was renamed as telomeric zinc finger-associated protein (TZAP) binding to elongated telomeres. However, its expression level was not measured in cancers. Patients and Methods We analyzed TZAP mRNA levels in 60 colorectal cancers (CRC) and its correlation with telomere length and TERT was studied. Results TZAP mRNA in CRC was higher statistically than that in paired non-cancerous tissues (p = 0.033). Higher TZAP was found in carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA)-positive CRCs (>5 ng/mL) (p = 0.012). Shorter telomere was found in CRCs with high TZAP expression than that with low TZAP expression (p = 0.010). According to quantitative correlation analysis, TZAP has a correlation with age ( r = −0.349, p = 0.007), TERT ( r = 0.279, p = 0.041) and telomere length ( r = −0.305, p = 0.021). TZAP expression did not harbor prognostic value in CRC. Inhibition of TZAP expression by siRNA suppresses cell growth in HT29 cells; however, it resulted in increased cell viability in HCT116 cells. TZAP inhibition induces a decrease in mRNA levels of TERT in both HT29 and HCT116 cells. TCGA data analysis showed higher expression of TZAP showed poorer overall survival in colon cancer (p = 0.001); however, it did not have a significance in rectal cancer (p = 0.951). Conclusion We suggested that TZAP may be a possible biomarker for CRC.

Prognostic Value of Telomeric Zinc Finger-Associated Protein Expression in Adenocarcinoma and Squamous Cell Carcinoma of Lung

“…Insufficient TZAP expression may induce longer telomere length [20]. A strong correlation between longer telomeres and increased risk of NSCLC, especially AD, has been reported [21][22][23].…”

“…When its expression is not sufficient in cancer cells, cells with longer telomeres can easily change into immortal cells, anticipating cancer development [4,5]. In this way, TZAP expression could mediate telomere trimming, thereby restricting abnormally long telomeres [15][16][17][18][19][20]. However, TZAP In SCC, TZAP expression did not have any prognostic values of OS (2215.91 ± 174.72 vs. 1946.47 ± 148.77 days, p = 0.805; Figure 3A) and DFS (2614.32 ± 215.95 vs. 2812.18 ± 218.12 days, p = 0.679; Figure 3B).…”

“…When its expression is not sufficient in cancer cells, cells with longer telomeres can easily change into immortal cells, anticipating cancer development [4,5]. In this way, TZAP expression could mediate telomere trimming, thereby restricting abnormally long telomeres [15][16][17][18][19][20]. However, TZAP expression has not been documented in various cancers, thus, this hypothesis should be confirmed.…”

Zbtb34 promotes embryonic stem cell proliferation by elongating telomere length

“…An interesting finding in this study is that only the third ZnF of Zbtb34 binds to the telomeres, while the functions of the other two ZnFs are unclear. It was found in previous studies that ZBTB48 and ZBTB10 were involved in the progression of different cancers [ 18 , 19 ]. Zbtb34 has also been shown to play a role in tumor growth as a transcriptional repressor [ 20 ].…”

Yes-associated protein 1 as a prognostic biomarker and its correlation with telomerase in various cancers

“…Several studies have reported that TERT overexpression contributes to cancer progression [ 24 ]. Therefore, YAP1 promotes TERT expression, which may contribute to tumor progression [ 25 ]. However, several studies have highlighted the importance of TERC in cancer because of findings indicating that TERC expression may be highly upregulated in a variety of cancers [ 26 − 30 ].…”