H. Kiaris

Transcriptional activation of H-ras, K-ras and N-ras proto-oncogenes in human bladder tumors

In this study we demonstrate the involvement of ras oncogenes in bladder cancer at the level of RNA overexpression. We examined 26 bladder specimens, consisting of paired tumor and adjacent normal tissue and found that H-ras transcripts were overexpressed in 39% of the specimens while K-ras and N-ras in 58% of total specimens. Each tumor specimen had a unique pattern of overexpression for the three ras genes. A competitive-RT-PCR was employed for H-ras and a beta-actin control gene was co-amplified with K-ras or N-ras genes. These results indicate that the involvement of ras oncogenes in bladder cancer could be relative to overexpression of these genes.

Microsatellite instability and loss of heterozygosity in primary breast tumours

Allelic imbalance or loss of heterozygosity (LOH) studies have been used extensively to identify regions on chromosomes that may contain putative tumour suppressor genes. We looked for evidence of microsatellite instability (MI) and LOH on chromosome 7q, 10q, 11p and 17q using seven polymorphic microsatellite markers. In 42 paired breast cancer-peripheral blood DNA samples we identified 24 tumours (57%) exhibiting genetic alterations. Twenty-one specimens exhibited LOH (50%), while 11 specimens exhibited MI (26%) in at least one microsatellite marker. The most frequent incidence of LOH was found for the marker THRA1 (8/33, 24%) indicating that thra I gene becomes a strong candidate tumour suppressor gene, whereas of MI it was D10S109 (3/26, 12%). These MI and LOH data were analysed using a range of clinicopathological parameters. Tumours displaying MI with no evidence of LOH and tumours exhibiting MI and LOH belonging to stage II or III were found, however none were at stage I. These data suggest that MI may be an early event in mammary tumorigenesis whereas LOH occurs at a late stage. A significant association between the absence of oestrogen receptors (p < 0.01) and the absence of both oestrogen and progesterone receptors (p < 0.001) at 17q21 were observed, indicating a possible relationship between specific genetic changes at this region and hormonal deregulation in the progression of breast cancer.

Mutations and Expression of the ras Family Genes in Leukemias

The levels of expression and the incidence of codon 12 point mutation of the ras family genes were studied in 18 cases of leukemia, seven with acute myeloblastic leukemia (AML), three with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), four cases with chronic myelogenic leukemia (CML) and four cases with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). Elevated expression of the ras genes was found for 39%, 61% and 67% of the specimens for the H‐ras, K‐ras and N‐ras, respectively. A trend was found between the overexpression of the N‐ras gene and the acute leukemias: all 10 acute leukemias exhibited overexpression of the N‐ras gene, while only two of the CML cases, both in blastic crisis, showed elevated levels of the N‐ras gene. Codon 12 point mutations at the N‐ras gene were found in two of seven cases (28%) with AML and one of the four cases (25%) with CML. The only K‐ras codon 12 point mutation was found in a patient with CLL. No mutations were found in the codon 12 of H‐ras. Our data suggest that apart from the point mutations, overexpression of the ras family genes is important in the development of the disease.

Loss of heterozygosity at 9p and 17q in human laryngeal tumours

Recent investigations revealed that the 9p arm and 17q arm of human chromosomes harbour tumour suppressor genes (TSGs) with an important role in multistage carcinogenesis. At the 9p arm is located the p16 (MTS1) TSG and probably others with an effect on various human tumours such as acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, bladder cancer, gliomas, malignant mesotheliomas, melanomas and non-small cell lung carcinomas. In addition, the 17q arm harbours BRCA1 TSG which is responsible for approximately 80% of the familial breast/ovarian cancer cases. In order to investigate the implication of these performed a loss of heterozygosity (LOH) analysis with 10 polymorphic microsatellite markers (three at the 17q arm surrounding the BRCA1 region and seven at the 9p arm). Fourteen of the 17 (82%) tumours exhibited deletions at 9p. The highest incidence of LOH (6/13, 46%) was found for the marker D9S157 at 9p22. One sample exhibited deletion of all the informative markers tested indicating deletion of the complete 9p arm. No homozygous deletions were found. LOH at the 17q arm near the BRCA1 locus was found in 6 (35%) among 17 specimens. The results of this study indicate that allelic deletions at 9p are frequent in the development of laryngeal tumours. The highest incidence of LOH was found for the marker D9S157 which is near, but distinct from the location of p16 (MTS1) tumour suppressor gene, indicating the presence of multiple tumour suppressor genes within this chromosomal region. In addition, BRCA1 TSG is implicated in the development of laryngeal tumours.

Instability at the H-ras minisatellite in human atherosclerotic plaques

The development of atherosclerotic plaques is characterised by the accumulation of lipids and the proliferation of smooth muscle cells. At the subcellular level, the abnormal expression of cytokines and growth factors, as well as the presence of transforming oncogenes, has been recognised and associated with the disease. The aim of the present study was to investigate whether instability at a minisatellite region located downstream of the H-ras proto-oncogene possessing enhancer activity, is a detectable phenomenon in atherosclerotic plaques. Thirty specimens were analysed by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) in order to reveal alterations of the repetition number and by restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) with BstNI restriction endonuclease for the detection of point mutations within the 28 bp core repetitive element. No point mutations were found among the 30 cases tested; however, alterations of the repetition number of the core were detected in 5 (17%) cases. Our results suggest that instability at the H-ras minisatellite may be associated with development of the disease.

Quantitation of the allelic imbalance provides evidence on tumour heterogeneity: a hypothesis.

The observation of loss of heterozygosity (LOH) in tumours represents a useful clue to the presence of tumour suppressor genes (TSGs). However, analysis of this phenomenon is often complicated by tumour heterogeneity and the presence of DNA from adjacent normal tissues. The present study suggests a quantitative approach for measurement of LOH which may help to distinguish between these possibilities and to provide clues for the heterogeneous process of tumour progression. We applied this methodology to a laryngeal tumour with LOH at markers D9S171, D9S157, D8S87 and THRA1 and found that LOH at D9S171 is the commonest aberration among the tumour cells, while LOH at the THRA1 marker is present in only a small subset of the tumour cells. It is likely that LOH at D9S171 occurs early uin tumour development while LOH at the rest of the markers tested occurred later resulting in the generation of heterogeneous cell populations.

Detection of Epstein-Barr virus genome in squamous cell carcinomas of the larynx.

Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) is a B-lymphotropic virus with a tumorigenic potential. EBV infection has been recognized as the main cause of nasopharyngeal carcinoma and Burkitts lymphoma. The aim of our study was to determine the incidence of EBV in squamous cell carcinomas of the larynx. We employed for our analysis a sensitive polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay, followed by restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) for further confirmation of the specificity of the PCR-amplification reaction. Our analysis revealed that 9 of 27 (33%) specimens harbored the EBV genome in the tumor tissue while only 4 (15%) specimens from adjacent normal tissue exhibited evidence of EBV infection. Three were EBV positive for both normal and tumor tissue. No association has been found with disease stage, histological differentiation and nodes at pathology. The relatively high incidence of EBV in the tumor tissue (33%) of patients with laryngeal cancer, as compared to the low (15%) incidence of the virus genome detected in the adjacent normal tissue of the patients, indicates a probable role of EBV in the development of the disease.