Specific overexpression of OLFM4^{GW112/hGC−1} mRNA in colon, breast and lung cancer tissues detected using quantitative analysis

Abstract

Overexpression of the olfactomedin 4 (OLFM4GW112) gene was recently reported to inhibit various apoptotic pathways and promote proliferation of cancer cells, suggesting that OLFM4 might serve as a diagnostic marker for human cancers. Therefore, we examined cancer-specific OLFM4 overexpression. OLFM4 mRNA was highly expressed in cancerous tissues obtained from the colon, breast and lung. Positivity for OLFM4 mRNA, defined as the mean + + + + 2 SD in non-cancerous colon and breast tissues, was observed in 68 and 50% of the studied colon and breast cancer tissues. OLFM4 mRNA expression was not detected in non-cancerous lung tissues but was evident in 62% of the lung cancer tissues. On comparing paired samples, the expression of OLFM4 mRNA was observed to be elevated in 90, 69 and 85% of colon, breast and lung cancer tissues, respectively. OLFM4 mRNA expression was observed even in the early stages of each cancer type. The expression of OLFM4 mRNA did not correlate with that of the antiapoptotic molecule survivin, indicating that it can be used independently in cancer diagnosis. Combining OLFM4 and survivin resulted in higher positivity. Thus, OLFM4 mRNA might be a useful tool to support the diagnosis of cancer, irrespective of the clinical stages. (Cancer Sci 2007; 98: 315-320)

Serum olfactomedin 4 (GW112, hGC‐1) in combination with Reg IV is a highly sensitive biomarker for gastric cancer patients

“…Although OLFM4 mRNA overexpression has been reported in CRC, 11 preoperative levels of olfactomedin 4 were increased in a small number of serum samples from CRC patients at stage I-III, indicating that serum olfactomedin 4 is unsuitable for early detection of CRC. The sensitivities of serum olfactomedin 4 at stage I-III was lower than those of CEA.…”

“…11 In contrast, immunohistochemical analysis has demonstrated that olfactomedin 4 down-regulation is found in late stage cases, and in patients with shorter survival of colon cancer. 12 The morphology and actin distribution of the HT-29 colon cancer cell line is altered by forced expression of olfactomedin 4.…”

Olfactomedin III expression contributes to anoikis-resistance in clonal variants of a human lung squamous carcinoma cell line

“…The fact that the olfactomedins have been identified only in multicellular organisms suggests that they play a role in cell-cell interaction and signalling. Olfactomedins are involved in normal development and are associated with several diseases including open-angle glaucoma and cancer [18][19][20][21][22]. OLFM1 and 3 are expressed mainly in the brain, OLFM2 in the pancreas and prostate, and OLFM4 in the bone marrow, small intestine, colon and prostate [15].…”

“…Mutations in OLFM1 [28] and silencing of OLFM1 resulted in increased apoptosis [29]. OLFM4 may have differing roles depending on the tissue, being antiapoptotic in gastric cancers [30] and growth promoting in pancreas and lung cancer cells [31,21]. Recently, OLFM4 in prostate cancer, suppressed growth and metastasis and exerted a negative impact on autophagy through interactions with Cathepsin D and stromal-derived factor 1 [31].…”

“…Recently, both OLFM1 and OLFM4 expression have been linked to early stage lung cancer, while OLFM4 expression has also been implicated in early stages of gastric, colon and breast cancer [19][20][21]. It may be that expression of OLFM3 in DLKP-SQ reflects an early stage cancer.…”