Molecular cloning and mRNA expression pattern of Sox10 in Paramisgurnus dabryanus

LRP5, SLC6A3, and SOX10 Expression in Conventional Ameloblastoma

Cell proliferation and invasion are characteristic of many tumors, including ameloblastoma, and are important features to target in possible future therapeutic applications.

OBJECTIVE

The objective of this study was the identification of key genes and inhibitory drugs related to the cell proliferation and invasion of ameloblastoma using bioinformatic analysis.

METHODS

The H10KA_07_38 gene profile database was analyzed by Rstudio and ShinyGO Gene Ontology enrichment. String, Cytoscape-MCODE, and Kaplan-Meier plots were generated, which were subsequently validated by RT-qPCR relative expression and immunoexpression analyses. To propose specific inhibitory drugs, a bioinformatic search using Drug Gene Budger and DrugBank was performed.

RESULTS

A total of 204 significantly upregulated genes were identified. Gene ontology enrichment analysis identified four pathways related to cell proliferation and cell invasion. A total of 37 genes were involved in these pathways, and 11 genes showed an MCODE score of ≥0.4; however, only SLC6A3, SOX10, and LRP5 were negatively associated with overall survival (HR = 1.49 (p = 0.0072), HR = 1.55 (p = 0.0018), and HR = 1.38 (p = 0.025), respectively). The RT-qPCR results confirmed the significant differences in expression, with overexpression of >2 for SLC6A3 and SOX10. The immunoexpression analysis indicated positive LRP5 and SLC6A3 expression. The inhibitory drugs bioinformatically obtained for the above three genes were parthenolide and vorinostat.

CONCLUSIONS

We identify LRP5, SLC6A3, and SOX10 as potentially important genes related to cell proliferation and invasion in the pathogenesis of ameloblastomas, along with both parthenolide and vorinostat as inhibitory drugs that could be further investigated for the development of novel therapeutic approaches against ameloblastoma.

Molecular cloning and mRNA expression pattern of Sox4 in Paramisgurnus dabryanus

Sox4 belonged to the SoxC subfamily of the Sox family, which play important roles in the development of the vertebrate gonad and nervous system. A Sox4 homologue was cloned from brain of Paramisgurnus dabryanus by using homologous cloning and rapid amplification of cDNA ends (RACE), designated as PdSox4. The full-length cDNA was 2163bp, containing the 759bp 5'-untranslated region, 267bp 3'-untranslated region and encoding a putative protein of 378 amino acids with a characteristic high mobility group box (HMG-box) DNA-binding domain of 79 amino acids with the specific motif (RPMNAFMVW). Alignment and phylogenetic analyses indicated that PdSox4 shares highly identical sequence with Sox4 homologues from different species. The signal peptide analysis predicted that PdSox4 is a non-secretory protein. The hydropathy profile of PdSox4 protein revealed that this protein is hydrophilic in nature. The expression profiles of PdSox4 in different developmental stages and various adult tissues of sexs were analyzed by quantitative real-time RT-PCR (qRT-PCR) and In situ hybridization (ISH). The results showed that PdSox4 was ubiquitously expressed during embryogenesis and various adult tissues, especially in central nervous system. Tissue distribution analyses revealed that PdSox4 was expression in developing germ cells. Taken together, these preliminary findings suggested that PdSox4 is highly conserved during vertebrate evolution and involved in a wide range of developmental processes including embryogenesis, neurogenesis and gonad development.