Background & objective: Laterally spreading tumor (LST) behaves close to malignant tumor. This study was to search for the genes and functional proteins correlated to growth and development of colorectal LST (CLST), and to reveal the molecular mechanisms of CLST growth pattern and malignant transformation.
Methods: cDNA microarray was used to screen differentially expressed genes among CLST cell line and other 2 colorectal cell lines LoVo and SW480. Different mRNA and protein expressions of the genes were confirmed by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and Western blot.
Results: Compared with LoVo and SW480 cells, 58 genes were up-regulated and 39 genes were down-regulated in CLST cells. mRNA level of ADP-ribosylation factor 1 (ARF1) was significantly higher in CLST cells than in SW480 and LoVo cells (0.93 vs. 0.74 and 0.47, P = 0.04); protein level of ARF1 was significantly higher in CLST cells than in LoVo cells.
Conclusions: CLST has specific gene expression profile. ARF1 is overexpressed in CLST, and may mediate specific biological function of CLST.