The Wnt signaling pathway is essential for embryonic development and can be involved in tumorigenesis when aberrantly activated. In a subset of Wilms' tumors, β-catenin mutations have been identified, and this suggested that abnormally activated Wnt signaling may contribute to tumorigenesis of this tumor. Because Axin has been recognized as a main component of Wnt signaling, and its mutations were reported in several types of malignancies, we analyzed Axin gene mutations in 22 pediatric renal tumors. Twenty-four sets of the primers, which cover the whole coding region of the Axin gene, were used for PCR-SSCP analyses. Samples revealing aberrant band patterns were further analyzed for sequencing. We have only identified 4 silent mutations in the coding region and 3 intronic polymorphisms in Axin gene, accordingly no pathogenetic gene mutations were detected. Our results indicated that mutations of Axin gene as a mechanism of tumorigenesis are not associated with pediatric renal tumors including Wilms' tumors.

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