2048

EPHB2

EPH receptor B2;EPHB2;EPH receptor B2

EPH-like kinase 5|developmentally-regulated Eph-related tyrosine kinase|elk-related tyrosine kinase|eph tyrosine kinase 3|ephrin type-B receptor 2|protein-tyrosine kinase HEK5|renal carcinoma antigen NY-REN-47|tyrosine-protein kinase TYRO5|tyrosine-protei

1p36.1-p35

protein-coding

The activation of Ephrin (Eph) receptors, the largest tyrosine kinase families of cell surface receptor, has recently been addressed in human cholangiocarcinoma (CCA). Therefore, the present study aimed to investigate the role of Eph receptors and its ligands in CCA. Of all 50 cases of human CCA tested, immunohistochemical staining demonstrated that EphB2, EphB4, ephrinB1, and ephrinB2 were 100 % positive in CCA tissues with overexpressions of the above proteins as 56, 56, 70, and 48 % of cases, respectively. High expression of EphB2 was significantly correlated with the metastatic status of patients (P = 0.027). We also found that the high co-expression level of EphB2/ephrinB1 or EphB2/ephrinB2 were significantly correlated with the metastatic status of the patients (P = 0.034 and P = 0.024). Furthermore, we showed that the high co-expression level of EphB4/MVD and ephrinB1/MVD were significantly correlated with the metastasis status of CCA patients (P = 0.012 and P = 0.029). We further demonstrated that the EphB2 suppression using siRNA significantly reduced CCA cell migration by decreasing the phosphorylation of focal adhesion kinase (FAK) and paxillin. In conclusion, the upregulation of EphB2 receptors and its specific ligands (ephrinB1 and ephrinB2) leads to CCA metastasis. Suppression of EphB2 expression as well as inhibition of its downstream signaling proteins might serve as possible therapeutic strategies in human CCA.

EphB2, a receptor tyrosine kinase regulated by the beta-catenin/Tcf4 complex, is expressed in the proliferative compartment of mouse intestine and regulates bidirectional migration of intestinal precursor cells in the crypt-villus axis through repulsive interaction with Ephrin-B ligands. Recently, it has been shown that reduction of EphB activity accelerates colon tumour progression in the Apc(Min/+) mice. In this study, we examined the expression of EphB2 in normal colon, adenomas, primary colorectal cancers (CRCs), lymph node metastases and liver metastases using immunohistochemistry on tissue microarrays. In addition, EphB2 was overexpressed in SW480 colon cancer cells to study its effect in vitro. We found that EphB2 was expressed in 100% of normal colon crypt base cells, 78% of adenomas, 55.4% of primary CRCs, 37.8% of lymph node metastases and 32.9% of liver metastases (all differences were statistically significant at P < 0.001 compared with primary CRCs). Patients with CRCs that lose EphB2 expression had more advanced tumour stage (P = 0.005), poor differentiation (P < 0.001), poor overall survival (P = 0.005) and disease-free survival (P = 0.001), with the latter being independent of tumour stage. In vitro studies showed that overexpression of EphB2 inhibited colon cancer cell growth in colony formation assay and activation of EphB2 receptor inhibited colon cancer cell adhesion and migration. Our data demonstrated a progressive loss of EphB2 expression in each critical step of colon carcinogenesis, including the onset of invasion, dedifferentiation and metastasis which are paralleled by adverse patient outcome. EphB2 may achieve its tumour suppressor function through regulation of cell survival, adhesion and migration.

The Eph receptors, members of a large family of transmembrane receptor tyrosine kinases, play important roles in a variety of biological functions. Recent studies have suggested that EphA4 and EphB2 participate in the growth and development of various carcinomas. This study examined the relationship of EphA4 and EphB2 gene expression to clinicopathological factors, especially metastasis, in patients with colorectal cancer. We studied surgical specimens of cancer tissue and adjacent normal mucosa obtained from 205 patients with untreated colorectal cancer. The relative expression levels of EphA4 and EphB2 mRNA in the specimens were measured by quantitative real-time, reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction. The relative expression level of EphA4 mRNA was higher in the presence than in the absence of liver metastasis, whereas the relative expression levels of EphB2 mRNA were similar. Analysis of the relationship between clinicopathological features and gene expression showed that high expression of the EphA4 gene and low expression of the EphB2 gene correlated with liver metastasis. There was no correlation between EphA4 and EphB2 gene expression. Our results suggest that overexpression of the EphA4 gene and reduced expression of the EphB2 gene might promote liver metastasis in colorectal cancer. Overexpression of the EphA4 gene and reduced expression of the EphB2 gene may thus be a useful predictor of liver metastasis in patients with colorectal cancer.

The identification of tumor-suppressor genes in solid tumors by classical cancer genetics methods is difficult and slow. We combined nonsense-mediated RNA decay microarrays and array-based comparative genomic hybridization for the genome-wide identification of genes with biallelic inactivation involving nonsense mutations and loss of the wild-type allele. This approach enabled us to identify previously unknown mutations in the receptor tyrosine kinase gene EPHB2. The DU 145 prostate cancer cell line, originating from a brain metastasis, carries a truncating mutation of EPHB2 and a deletion of the remaining allele. Additional frameshift, splice site, missense and nonsense mutations are present in clinical prostate cancer samples. Transfection of DU 145 cells, which lack functional EphB2, with wild-type EPHB2 suppresses clonogenic growth. Taken together with studies indicating that EphB2 may have an essential role in cell migration and maintenance of normal tissue architecture, our findings suggest that mutational inactivation of EPHB2 may be important in the progression and metastasis of prostate cancer.