N-myristoyltransferase: A potential novel diagnostic marker for colon cancer

doi:10.1186/1479-5876-5-58

Journal of Translational Medicine

Volume 5

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Varma S
Saxena A
DeCoteau J
Sharma RK

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N-myristoyltransferase: A potential novel diagnostic marker for colon cancer

Anuraag Shrivastav¹^,2 , Shailly Varma³ , Anurag Saxena¹ , John DeCoteau¹^,2 and Rajendra K Sharma¹

¹Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, College of Medicine, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Canada S7N 5E5

²Health Research Division, Saskatchewan Cancer Agency, Saskatoon, Canada S7N 4H4

³Department of Biochemistry, College of Medicine, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Canada S7N 5E5

author email corresponding author email

Journal of Translational Medicine 2007, 5:58doi:10.1186/1479-5876-5-58


Published:	16 November 2007

Abstract

Background

Colon cancer is the second leading cause of cancer deaths in the western world. If detected early, colorectal cancer is one of the most treatable forms of cancer. Unfortunately, very few people are screened. N-myristoyltransferase (NMT) catalyzes myristoylation of various proteins including oncoproteins. We have demonstrated earlier the alteration of NMT activity during the progression of colorectal cancer and established NMT as a putative therapeutic target for cancer.

Methods

Peripheral blood samples and bone marrow were collected from the colon cancer patients and azoxymethane induced colonic tumor rats and their controls respectively. NMT activity and expression was determined as reported earlier. Immunohistochemical studies were carried out using standard procedures.

Results

In this study we demonstrate for the first time altered expression and localization of NMT in the peripheral blood and bone marrow in colon cancer patients. Immunohistochemical analysis revealed weak to negative staining for NMT in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) of controls, whereas strong positivity was observed in PBMC colon cancer patients. In addition, we observed that NMT was localized mostly in the nuclei of the bone marrow (BM) mononuclear cells of the colon cancer patients, whereas NMT remained cytoplasmic in the control bone marrow specimens.

Conclusion

The strikingly different NMT expression offers the basis of a potential adjunct investigative tool for screening or diagnosis of patients at risk for or suspected of having colon cancer. Furthermore, altered localization of NMT in BM of tumor bearing hosts may serve as an added investigative tool for the diagnostic purpose.