Mutational analysis of the Smad6 and Smad7 genes in hepatocellular carcinoma
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- Published online on: July 1, 2001 https://doi.org/10.3892/ijmm.8.1.49
- Pages: 49-52
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Abstract
Resistance to the transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β) is a frequently found phenotype in human malignancies. The recent identification of Smad6 and Smad7, both anti-Smads which inhibit TGF-β signaling, raises a possibility that constitutive activation of the anti-Smads by a somatic mutation may impair the TGF-β signaling pathway. We tested this hypothesis by screening the entire coding sequences of these anti-Smads for mutations in 52 hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) samples using polymerase chain reaction - single strand confomation polymorphism analysis. We detected no mutations, but found 3 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the Smad6 gene and 2 SNPs in the Smad7 gene. These results suggest that mutations of the Smad6 and Smad7 genes are not the main cause of the TGF-β resistance in human HCC.
