Cancer Cell 2003 Mar;3(3):297-302
Genomic amplification and oncogenic properties of the KCNK9 potassium channel gene.
Mu D, Chen L, Zhang X, See LH, Koch CM, Yen C, Tong JJ, Spiegel L, Nguyen KC, Servoss A, Peng Y, Pei L, Marks JR, Lowe S, Hoey T, Jan LY, McCombie WR, Wigler MH, Powers S.
Tularik Inc., Genomics Division, 266 E. Pulaski Road, 11740, Greenlawn, NY, USA
Representational difference analysis (RDA) of human breast cancer was used to discover a novel amplicon located at chromosomal region 8q24.3. We examined a series of breast cancer samples harboring amplification of this region and determined that KCNK9 is the sole overexpressed gene within the amplification epicenter. KCNK9 encodes a potassium channel that is amplified from 3-fold to 10-fold in 10% of breast tumors and overexpressed from 5-fold to over 100-fold in 44% of breast tumors. Overexpression of KCNK9 in cell lines promotes tumor formation and confers resistance to both hypoxia and serum deprivation, suggesting that its amplification and overexpression plays a physiologically important role in human breast cancer. |