TWIST1 Gene: First Insights in Felis catus

An overview of Twist1 in glioma progression and recurrence

Glioma cells are characterized by high migration ability, resulting in the aggressive growth of the tumors and poor prognosis of patients. Epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) is one of the most important steps for tumor migration and metastasis and be elevated during glioma progression and recurrence. Twist1 is a basic helix-loop-helix transcription factor and a key transcription factor involved in the process of EMT. Twist1 is related to glioma mesenchymal change, invasion, heterogeneity, self-renewal of tumor stem cells, angiogenesis, etc., and may be used as a prognostic indicator and therapeutic target for glioma patients. This paper mainly reviews the structural characteristics, regulatory mechanisms, and apparent regulation of Twist1, as well as the roles of Twist1 during glioma progression and recurrence, providing new revelations for its use as a potential drug target and glioma treatment research.

Prognostic studies of canine and feline mammary tumours: the need for standardized procedures

For several years, veterinary oncologists have been struggling with the prognosis of mammary tumours in dogs and cats. Translation of tumour characteristics into prognostic information is an invaluable tool for the use of the most appropriate therapies, as well as for planning innovative therapeutic trials. Moreover, canine and feline spontaneous mammary gland tumours are good models for the study of human breast cancer. Collecting and interpreting information regarding the prognosis of canine and feline mammary tumours is difficult due to the fact that different methods have been applied to study various components and characteristics. This review identifies some of the challenges of prognostic studies of spontaneous canine and feline mammary tumours and suggests standardized procedures to overcome these challenges and facilitate reproducibility and assessment of results.

Sequence variation and mRNA expression of the TWIST1 gene in cats with mammary hyperplasia and neoplasia

In humans, a germline mutation (c.309C>G) in the TWIST1 oncogene may predispose to breast cancer and its expression has been associated with tumour progression and metastasis. In this study, the feline TWIST1 gene was screened for sequence variations in 37 neoplastic and eight hyperplastic mammary gland lesions from cats. In addition, mRNA levels were examined in 15 mammary tumours and three cases of mammary hyperplasia by quantitative real-time reverse-transcriptase PCR. Feline mammary carcinomas had significantly lower levels of expression of TWIST1 mRNA than benign mammary tumours. No variations were identified in the TWIST1 coding region in feline mammary tumours and the mutation described in humans was not detected. However, two germline variants in the TWIST1 gene intron were identified in four and three carcinomas, respectively: GQ167299:g.535delG and GQ167299:g.460C>T. There was no association between these sequence alterations and TWIST1 mRNA levels.