11178

LZTS1

F37|FEZ1;leucine zipper, putative tumor suppressor 1;LZTS1;leucine zipper, putative tumor suppressor 1

F37/Esophageal cancer-related gene-coding leucine-zipper motif|leucine zipper putative tumor suppressor 1

8p22

protein-coding

Deletions in the 8p21-22 region of the human genome are among the most common genetic alterations in prostate carcinomas. Several studies in different tumor tissues, including prostate, indicate that there are probably multiple tumor suppressor genes (TSGs) present in this region. To identify candidate TSGs on 8p22 a YAC contig spanning this region was assembled and YAC clones retrofitted with a selectable marker (neo) were transferred into rat prostate AT6.2 cells. Two overlapping YAC clones showed greatly reduced colony-forming efficiency, indicating they may carry a TSG. Two BAC clones encompassing the overlapping region also appeared to exert suppressive effects on the growth of AT6.2 cells. Database searches for genes mapped to the critical region identified a gene known as FEZ1 (LZTS1) as a potential candidate suppressor gene. Subsequent experiments showed that over-expression of LZTS1 cDNA inhibited stable colony-forming efficiencies of AT6.2, HEK-293 and LNCaP cells. In contrast, LZTS1-transfected Rat-1 and RM1 cells were growth-stimulated. Database searches also identified additional isoforms of the LZTS1 mRNA, as well as LZTS1 protein domains reminiscent of those found in transcription factors. Together these data suggest that the LZTS1 gene is involved in the regulation of cell growth and its loss of function may contribute to the development of prostatic carcinomas, as well as other cancers.

FEZ1/LZTS1 is a tumor suppressor gene located in chromosomal band 8p22, and methylation has been identified as a mechanism for its loss of function in tumors. Chromosomal deletion at 8p22 is also frequent in breast cancer. We therefore examined whether LZTS1 plays a role in breast cancer. We analyzed expression of LZTS1 at both the RNA and protein levels, and promoter methylation in a number of primary tumors and cell lines from breast cancer. We also examined the association between LZTS1 expression and different clinicopathological parameters of breast cancer. We found that the expression of LZTS1 mRNA was reduced in 25 of 50 (50%) primary tumors and 29 of 30 (97%) breast cancer cell lines. Immunohistochemical staining showed that LZTS1 protein was absent or down-regulated in 72 (72%) of 100 primary breast carcinomas. Reduced expression of LZTS1 at either the RNA or protein level was significantly correlated with lymph node metastases (P < 0.05). DNA methylation analysis revealed that the LZTS1 gene was frequently methylated in both cell lines and primary tumors from breast cancer, and the extent of DNA methylation was correlated with reduced expression of the gene. These findings suggest that LZTS1 plays a role in the development and progression of breast cancer at least through promoter methylation-mediated transcriptional downregulation.

Leucine zipper putative tumor suppressor 1 is down-regulated by promoter methylation, but not frequently, in human malignancies, including breast cancer. Recent studies suggest that leucine zipper putative tumor suppressor 1 is a candidate for the metastasis modifier locus on human chromosome 8p in melanoma. In this study, we evaluated whether leucine zipper putative tumor suppressor 1 plays a role in breast cancer metastasis. We found that leucine zipper putative tumor suppressor 1 protein expression was significantly reduced or absent in a series of 340 invasive breast carcinomas compared to normal breast tissue. Lower levels of leucine zipper putative tumor suppressor 1 correlated with high histologic grade, lymph node metastasis, and poor prognosis. Functional studies demonstrated that ectopic expression of leucine zipper putative tumor suppressor 1 in the highly malignant MDA-MB-231 breast cancer cell line suppressed cell proliferation, migration, and invasion in vitro. expression of leucine zipper putative tumor suppressor 1 in MDA-MB-231 cells also induced a series of changes that are characteristic of mesenchymal-to-epithelial transition, including phenotypic change, up-regulation of epithelial markers E-cadherin, beta-catenin, and cytokeratin and down-regulation of the mesenchymal marker vimentin. expression of leucine zipper putative tumor suppressor 1 also repressed the transcription of Slug and Snail, which both repress E-cadherin expression during epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition. These findings suggest that epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition likely inhibits breast cancer metastasis by intervening in epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition in breast cancer.