Identification of DLK1 variants in pituitary- and neuroendocrine tumors

• Published in: Biochemical and biophysical research communications Vol. 340; no. 3; pp. 995 - 1005
• Main Authors: Altenberger, T., Bilban, M., Auer, M., Knosp, E., Wolfsberger, S., Gartner, W., Mineva, I., Zielinski, C., Wagner, L., Luger, A.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Elsevier Inc 17-02-2006
• Subjects: Alternative Splicing; Base Sequence; Blotting, Northern; Cloning, Molecular; Codon, Terminator; DLK1; DNA - chemistry; DNA - metabolism; DNA, Complementary - metabolism; Female; Gene Expression Profiling; Gene Expression Regulation; Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic; Genetic Variation; Humans; Immunoblotting; Intercellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins; Male; Membrane Proteins - biosynthesis; Membrane Proteins - chemistry; Membrane Proteins - metabolism; Microscopy, Confocal; Microscopy, Fluorescence; Models, Genetic; Molecular Sequence Data; Neuroendocrine tumors; Neuroendocrine Tumors - metabolism; Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis; Ovarian Neoplasms - metabolism; Pituitary; Pituitary adenomas; Pituitary Neoplasms - metabolism; Polymerase Chain Reaction; Pref-1; Protein Structure, Tertiary; Recombinant Proteins - chemistry; Repressor Proteins - biosynthesis; Repressor Proteins - chemistry; Repressor Proteins - metabolism; Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; RNA, Messenger - metabolism; Sequence Homology, Nucleic Acid; Time Factors; Transcript variants; Pituitary adenomas; Transcript variants; Pituitary; DLK1; Pref-1; Neuroendocrine tumors
• ISSN: 0006-291X; 1090-2104
• DOI: 10.1016/j.bbrc.2005.12.094

In a gene chip analysis of common pituitary tumor types, one of the genes with the most impressive tissue-specific expression regulation was delta-like 1 (DLK1), which was strongly expressed in GH-secreting (GH-S) pituitary tumors. In addition to pituitary adenomas, various endocrine tumors were subjected to real-time-quantitative PCR revealing high expression of DLK1 in normal pituitary tissue, in GH-S-, in one prolactin-secreting pituitary adenoma and in pheochromocytomas. Additionally, three DLK1 gene-derived subvariants were identified. The first, lacking 204
bp—coding for epidermal growth factor-like domain 6 and parts of the juxtamembrane region—was named Secredeltin. In the other two splice variants (named Brevideltin and Brevideltinin), a stop codon is introduced due to a frame-shift, leading to truncated proteins of 204 and 213
aas, respectively.