Wilms' tumor suppressor gene expression in rat and human mesothelioma

• Published in: Cancer research (Chicago, Ill.) Vol. 54; no. 12; pp. 3101 - 3106
• Main Authors: WALKER, C, RUTTEN, F, XIAOQUIN YUAN, PASS, H, MEW, D. M, EVERITT, J
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Philadelphia, PA American Association for Cancer Research 15-06-1994
• Subjects: Aged; Alternative Splicing; Animals; Asbestos - adverse effects; Base Sequence; Biological and medical sciences; Cell Transformation, Neoplastic - genetics; Exons; Gene Expression; Genes, Wilms Tumor; Humans; Male; Medical sciences; Mesothelioma - chemically induced; Mesothelioma - genetics; Middle Aged; Molecular Sequence Data; Organ Specificity; Pneumology; Rats; Testis - physiology; Tumors of the respiratory system and mediastinum; Human; Splicing; Rat; Respiratory disease; Pathogenesis; Genetic variant; Rodentia; Tumoral marker; Malignant tumor; Gene expression; In vitro; Vertebrata; Malignant mesothelioma; Mammalia; Animal; Established cell line; Pleural disease; Genetics; Diagnosis; Molecular biology; Tumor cell; Pleura; Tumor suppressor gene
• ISSN: 0008-5472; 1538-7445

Induction of mesothelioma in the rat is an important animal model for assessing the carcinogenic potential of fibers and for understanding the molecular basis underlying the development of these tumors. Mesotheliomas and nephroblastoma (Wilms' tumor) have many developmental, biochemical, and histological similarities; however, the expression of the Wilms' tumor suppressor gene, WT-1, has not been well characterized in the rat, and its expression pattern in rat or human mesothelioma has not been described. We report that WT-1 transcripts (3.2 kilobases) could be detected by Northern analysis in adult rat testis, spleen, kidney, lung, heart, and glomerular mesangial cells. Normal adult mesothelial cells also expressed this gene. Rat mesothelioma cell lines expressed WT-1 transcripts of 3.2 kilobases and an additional 2.8-kilobase transcript, previously only reported to be expressed in the testis. Normal and transformed rat mesothelial cells expressed all four of the WT-1 splice variants, except testis, which only expressed WT-1 splice variants containing exon 5. Seven of seven human mesothelioma cell lines examined also expressed WT-1 transcripts, suggesting that expression of this gene may be useful in the diagnosis of these tumors.