In the past decade, new concepts have emerged on the role of adhesion molecules in the communication, motility, differentiation, and survival of cells in the body. The traditional view on the role of cell adhesion molecules in cell differentiation and tissue architecture has changed following the discovery that some adhesion proteins, including CD44, are involved in tumor progression in both animal and human tissues. CD44 is a glycoprotein which has differently spliced isoforms with various combinations of up to 9 variant exons numbered v2 to v10. The aim of this study was to characterize CD44 transcripts associated with colorectal neoplasia. The hypothesis is that discrete transcripts of CD44 are generated during the progression from normal to carcinomatous colonic epithelium, contributing to determinant changes in cell adhesion. Our results showed: (i) a high level of expression of CD44 v8-v10 transcripts in all tumor cells by in situ hybridization technique, (ii) 4 transcripts of CD44v7 with 650, 740, 1000, and 1150 bases in RNA extracted from tumor cases and studied by RT-PCR followed by Southern blotting, and (iii) the 1150 transcript was the only one found in both carcinoma and polyps. This transcript has therefore the potential to be used as an early marker of progression in colorectal neoplasia. It is reasonable to suggest that these new transcript species generate protein isoforms with different adhesion properties, as compared to standard CD44.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.23892 |
| Date | January 1996 |
| Creators | Haghighat, Roya |
| Contributors | Jothy, S. (advisor) |
| Publisher | McGill University |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Coverage | Master of Science (Department of Pathology.) |
| Rights | All items in eScholarship@McGill are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated. |
| Relation | alephsysno: 001495039, proquestno: MM12201, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest. |
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