These tools will no longer be maintained as of December 31, 2024. Archived website can be found here. PubMed4Hh GitHub repository can be found here. Contact NLM Customer Service if you have questions.


Pubmed for Handhelds

PUBMED FOR HANDHELDS

Search MEDLINE/PubMed

  • Title: Expression of human intestinal trefoil factor in malignant cells and its regulation by oestrogen in breast cancer cells.
    Author: May FE, Westley BR.
    Journal: J Pathol; 1997 Aug; 182(4):404-13. PubMed ID: 9306961.
    Abstract:
    Human intestinal trefoil factor (hITF) is a small cysteine-rich protein expressed in the gastrointestinal (GI) tract. Its sequence is related to that of other trefoil peptides including the pNR-2/pS2 protein, which is regulated by oestrogen in breast cancer. This study was designed to investigate whether hITF is expressed in human carcinoma cells. cDNA was obtained by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) of gastric mucosal RNA and sequenced, establishing that this mRNA is expressed in the stomach. Expression of hITF was detected in a proportion of cell lines derived from malignancies of the GI tract, in hepatocellular carcinoma cells, and at highest levels in a small cell lung carcinoma cell line. Amongst breast cancer cell lines, it was expressed in all the oestrogen-responsive but in none of the oestrogen-nonresponsive breast cancer cell lines. The possibility that hITF expression in breast cells is controlled by oestradiol was then tested. Oestradiol treatment increased hITF expression between three- and ten-fold in the oestrogen-responsive breast cancer cell lines, demonstrating that, like pNR-2/pS2, hITF is regulated by oestrogen in breast cancer cells. Tamoxifen inhibited the induction of hITF expression by oestradiol but tamoxifen alone was a partial oestrogen agonist for hITF expression. These results show that hITF is expressed, sometimes ectopically, in several human malignancies, which suggests that trefoil peptides may have a more general role in tumourigenesis than hitherto appreciated. That the expression of hITF is regulated by oestrogen in breast cancer cells suggests that hITF expression may provide a novel marker for oestrogen responsiveness in breast cancer.
    [Abstract] [Full Text] [Related] [New Search]