Patients with colon cancer exhibited greater TEX19 expression, controlled in vitro by epigenetic inhibitors
Mikhlid H Almutairi1, Ahmad S Alkhaldi1, Turki M Alrubie1
1Department of Zoology, College of Science, King Saud University, P.O. Box 2455, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia.
Background:
In the Saudi population, colon cancer (CC) is connected with a high death rate due to frequent late-stage diagnosis. Consequently, early diagnosis of CC is crucial for improving treatment outcomes and reducing mortality. The purpose of the study was to evaluate the potential application of human testis expressed 19 (TEX19) as a cancer biomarker for better therapy and early CC identification.
Methods:
Both RT-PCR and qRT-PCR were used to examine the expression levels of TEX19 in 25 adjacent CC and normal colon (NC) tissue samples from Saudi male and female patients. To determine if these agents can raise the TEX19, four cell lines treated with 5-aza-2'-deoxycytidine and trichostatin A were subjected to an in vitro investigation using the qRT-PCR technique. Furthermore, a rat model of CC was established using DMH-induced CC in male Wistar rats with saline-treated control colon. Kaplan-Meier survival analysis was performed using The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) dataset.
Results:
The qRT-PCR results showed that TEX19 expression was significantly higher in CC compared to NC tissues in both male and female patients (p = 0.0003 and 0.0026, respectively). In vitro experiments demonstrated increased TEX19 expression in cell lines treated with 5-aza-2'-deoxycytidine and in cells treated with trichostatin A. An in vivo rat model also demonstrated increased expression of Tex19.1 and Tex19.2 in DMH (a colon carcinogen)-induced CC compared to the control group. In silico analysis revealed that TEX19 expression was significantly upregulated in COAD tissues compared to normal tissues. TEX19 promoter methylation levels were significantly reduced in COAD tissues compared to normal tissues. Patients with high TEX19 expression exhibited a trend towards poorer overall survival.
Conclusions:
These results suggest that the TEX19 gene, which is regulated by the suppression of methylation and histone deacetylation, is a promising biomarker for CC and may serve as a therapeutic target for CC in certain populations.
