22974

TPX2

TPX2, microtubule-associated;TPX2;TPX2, microtubule-associated

TPX2, microtubule-associated protein homolog|TPX2, microtubule-associated, homolog|differentially expressed in cancerous and non-cancerous lung cells 2|differentially expressed in lung cells|hepatocellular carcinoma-associated antigen 519|hepatocellular c

20q11.2

protein-coding

BACKGROUND: We have previously demonstrated an aberrant overexpression of the microtubule-associated protein TPX2 in colon cancer using a genome-wide gene expression profiling analysis. Here, we aim to investigate its expression pattern, clinical significance, and biological function in colon cancer. METHODS: TPX2 expression was analyzed in human colon cancer cell lines and tumor samples. The effect of TPX2 on cell proliferation, tumorigenesis, and metastasis was examined in vitro and in vivo. RESULTS: TPX2 was overexpressed in 129 of the 203 (60.8%) colon cancer metastatic lesions, with the expression being significantly higher than that in primary cancerous tissue and normal colon mucosa. Overexpression of TPX2 was significantly associated with clinical staging, vessel invasion, and metastasis. In survival analyses, patients with TPX2 overexpression had worse overall survival and metastasis free survival, suggesting that deregulation of TPX2 may contribute to the metastasis of colon cancer. Consistent with this, suppression of TPX2 expression inhibited proliferation and tumorigenicity of colon cancer cells both in vitro and in vivo. Strikingly, we found that TPX2 knockdown significantly attenuated the migration and invasion ability of colon cancer cells, which was further shown to be mechanistically associated with AKT-mediated MMP2 activity. CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest that TPX2 plays an important role in promoting tumorigenesis and metastasis of human colon cancer, and may represent a novel prognostic biomarker and therapeutic target for the disease.

PURPOSE: To explore the expression of TPX2 and its significance in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) tissue and approach relationship between the TPX2 and clinicopathological characteristic of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma. METHOD: RT-PCR and immunohistochemical staining were used to compare the expression of TPX2 in 62 esophageal squamous cell carcinoma, 31 atypical hyperplasia and 62 normal esophageal mucosa. RESULTS: In ESCC, atypical hyperplasia and in normal mucous membrane tissues, the positive rate of TPX2 protein expression was 85.5% (53/62), 51.6% (16/31) and 4.8% (3/62); the positive rate of TPX2 mRNA expression was 65.5% (40/62), 35.5 (11/31) and 4.83% (3/62). The expression of TPX2 protein and mRNA were correlated with invasive depth and lymphatic metastasis of ESCC (P<0.01). CONCLUSIONS: Overexpression of TPX2 may be risk factor of lymph node in esophageal carcinoma, and maybe a potential biomarker for early diagnosis and prognosis of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma.