Lysyl oxidase-like 2 expression is increased in colon and esophageal tumors and associated with less differentiated colon tumors.

Lysyl oxidase-like 2 (LOXL2) belongs to an amine oxidase family whose members have been implicated in crosslink formation in stromal collagens and elastin, cell motility, and tumor development and progression. We previously demonstrated the association between increased LOXL2 expression and invasive/metastatic behavior in human breast cancer cells and mouse squamous and spindle cell carcinomas, interaction between LOXL2 and SNAIL in epithelial-mesenchymal transition, and localization of the LOXL2 gene to 8p21.2-21.

Esophageal cancer risk in relation to GGC and CAG trinucleotide repeat lengths in the androgen receptor gene.

The incidence of esophageal squamous cell cancer in African males in South Africa is one of the highest in the world. Because most patients present with advanced disease such that survival is poor, the identification of high-risk individuals will facilitate early disease detection. Two polymorphic triplet repeats-(CAG)(n) and (GGC)(n)-in the androgen receptor gene were evaluated as potential genetic susceptibility loci for esophageal squamous cell cancer.

Infrequent somatic deletion of the 5' region of the COL1A2 gene in oesophageal squamous cell cancer patients.

Oesophageal squamous cell cancer is the leading cause of cancer death amongst African males in South Africa. DNA was isolated from normal and tumour biopsies of the oesophagi of 33 African patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the oesophagus and was analysed with two dinucleotide repeat polymorphisms, a GT repeat sequence in the first intron, and a CA repeat in the promoter of the human alpha2(I) procollagen gene (COL1A2), using the polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Normal and tumour DNAs from each individual were compared to identify changes present in the tumour DNA, but absent in normal DNA.

Effect of rooperol on collagen synthesis and cell growth.

The effect of rooperol on type I collagen synthesis in normal skin and lung fibroblasts and cell growth in normal and transformed fibroblasts was investigated. Low concentrations of rooperol selectively inhibited the growth of transformed cells while stimulating collagen synthesis in normal fibroblasts. Elevated collagen synthesis and deposition could impede tumour cell invasion and metastasis, implying that rooperol may be useful as an antimetastatic agent in the treatment of cancer.

CA repeat polymorphism in the promoter region of the COL1A2 gene.

A polymorphic CA dinucleotide repeat sequence has been identified within the promoter of the human alpha 2(I) procollagen gene, located at 7q21.3-q22.1.