Increased expression of calcineurin in human colorectal adenocarcinomas

✍ Scribed by Ashakumary Lakshmikuttyamma; Ponniah Selvakumar; Rani Kanthan; Selliah Chandra Kanthan; Rajendra K. Sharma

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2005
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 211 KB
• Volume: 95
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0730-2312
• DOI: 10.1002/jcb.20437

✦ Synopsis

Abstract

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the third most common cause of cancer death in the Western world. Calcineurin (CaN), a Ca^2+^/calmodulin (CaM)‐dependent protein phosphatase, is important for Ca^2+^‐mediated signal transduction. The main objective of this study is to examine the potential role of Ca^2+^/CaM‐dependent protein phosphatase in both normal and in invasive tumor components of human samples. In this study, we carried out 45 cases of CaN activity, 13 cases of CaN protein expression by Western blot analysis, and 6 cases for immunohistochemical analysis in both normal and invasive tumor components of human samples. Immunohistochemical analysis revealed that strong cytoplasmic staining of varying intensity was observed in colon tumors of all patients compared to normal mucosa. In addition, Western blot analysis revealed a prominent overexpressed immunoreactive band with an apparent molecular mass of 60 kDa catalytic alpha subunit (CaN A) as well as CaN Aα and β in colon tumor samples. Elevated CaN protein expression appears to be a possible link between Ca^2+^ signaling and oncogenic processes. © 2005 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.