Alterations in cathepsin L expression in lung cancers |
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Authors: | Koji Okudela Hideaki Mitsui Tetsukan Woo Hiromasa Arai Takehisa Suzuki Mai Matsumura Yoko Kojima Shigeaki Umeda Yoko Tateishi Munetaka Masuda Kenichi Ohashi |
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Institution: | 1. Department of Pathology, Yokohama City University Graduate School of Medicine, Yokohama, Japan;2. Department of Surgery, Yokohama City University, Graduate School of Medicine, Yokohama, Japan;3. Division of General Thoracic Surgery, Kanagawa Prefectural Cardiovascular and Respiratory Center Hospital, Yokohama, Japan |
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Abstract: | We herein investigated the potential role of cathepsin L in lung carcinogenesis. Lung cancer cell lines and surgically resected tumors were examined for the expression of the cathepsin L protein and copy number alterations in its gene locus. Cathepsin L was stably expressed in bronchiolar epithelial cells. Neoplastic cells expressed cathepsin L at various levels, whereas its expression was completely lost in most of the lung cancer cell lines (63.6%, 7/11) examined. Furthermore, expression levels were lower in a large fraction of lung tumors (69.5%, 139/200) than in bronchiolar epithelia. The expression of cathepsin L was lost in some tumors (16.0%, 32/200). In adenocarcinomas, expression levels were significantly lower in high‐grade tumors than in low‐grade tumors (one‐way ANOVA, P < 0.0500). Copy number alterations were found in 18.0% (36 32 gain + 4 loss] /200) of lung tumors. No relationship existed between cathepsin L protein expression levels and the copy number of its gene locus (Spearman's rank‐order correlation, P = 0.3096). Collectively, these results suggest that the down‐regulated expression of cathepsin L, which is caused by an undefined mechanism other than copy number alterations, is involved in the progression of lung adenocarcinomas. |
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Keywords: | carcinogenesis cathepsin L lung cancer |
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