Abstract

BACKGROUND
Several lines of evidence have indicated that the deregulation of apoptosis is involved in the mechanisms of cancer development, and somatic mutations of the apoptosisrelated genes have been reported in human cancers. Members of the bcl-2 family proteins regulate the intrinsic apoptosis pathway mainly in the mitochondria. The aim of this study was to explore whether the somatic mutation of the proapoptotic bcl-2 family genes, one of the mechanisms that prolong the survival of cancer cells, occurred in colorectal carcinomas.
METHODS
In the current study, to detect the somatic mutations in the DNA sequences encoding the bcl-2 homology 3 (BH3) domain of the human bak, bid, bik, bim, PUMA, bcl-rambo, bcl-G, and bmf genes in 98 colon adenocarcinomas, we used polymerase chain reaction (PCR), single strand conformation polymorphism (SSCP), and DNA sequencing.
RESULTS
The SSCP analysis detected no evidence of somatic mutations of the genes in the coding regions of the BH3 domain in the cancers.
CONCLUSIONS
The data presented here indicate that the proapoptotic bcl-2 family genes, bak, bid, bik, bim, PUMA, bcl-rambo, bcl-G and bmf may not be somatically mutated in human colorectal carcinomas, and suggest that the colorectal cancers may not utilize mutational events of these proapoptotic bcl-2 family genes in the mechanisms for evading apoptosis.

• Keywords: Colonic neoplasms;Genes;bcl-2;Apoptosis;Mutation