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Evidence for heightened genetic instability in precancerous spasmolytic polypeptide expressing gastric glands
  1. Jiangrong Chen1,
  2. Chunchao Zhu2,
  3. Chaojie Wang2,
  4. Chuansheng Hu1,
  5. Daniel M Czajkowsky1,
  6. Yan Guo1,3,
  7. Bingya Liu4,
  8. Zhifeng Shao1,3
  1. 1 Bio-ID Center, School of Biomedical Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China
  2. 2 Department of Gastrointestinal Surgery, Renji Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China
  3. 3 State Key Laboratory for Oncogenes and Related Genes, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China
  4. 4 Shanghai Key Laboratory of Gastric Neoplasms, Ruijin Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China
  1. Correspondence to Dr Yan Guo, Bio-ID Center, School of Biomedical Engineering Shanghai Jiao Tong University Shanghai China ; yanguo{at}sjtu.edu.cn, Professor Bingya Liu, Shanghai Key Laboratory of Gastric Neoplasms Ruijin Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine Shanghai China ; liubingya{at}sjtu.edu.cn and Professor Zhifeng Shao, School of Biomedical Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China; zfshao{at}sjtu.edu.cn

Abstract

Background Spasmolytic polypeptide-expressing metaplasia (SPEM) is present in more than 90% of resected gastric cancer tissues. However, although widely regarded as a pre-cancerous tissue, its genetic characteristics have not been well studied.

Methods Immunohistochemistry using Trefoil factor 2 (TFF2) antibodies was used to identify TFF2-positive SPEM cells within SPEM glands in the stomach of Helicobacter felis (H. felis) -infected mice and human clinical samples. Laser microdissection was used to isolate specific cells from both the infected mice and the human samples. The genetic instability in these cells was examined by measuring the lengths of microsatellite (MS) markers using capillary electrophoresis. Also, genome-wide genetic variations in the SPEM cells from the clinical sample was examined using deep whole-exome sequencing.

Results SPEM cells indeed exhibit not only heightened MS instability (MSI), but also genetic instabilities that extend genome-wide. Furthermore, surprisingly, we found that morphologically normal, TFF2-negative cells also contain a comparable degree of genomic instabilities as the co-resident SPEM cells within the SPEM glands.

Conclusion These results, for the first time, clearly establish elevated genetic instability as a critical property of SPEM glands, which may provide a greater possibility for malignant clone selection. More importantly, these results indicate that SPEM cells may not be the sole origin of carcinogenesis in the stomach and strongly suggest the common progenitor of these cells, the stem cells, as the source of these genetic instabilities, and thus, potential key players in carcinogenesis.

  • gastric cancer (gc)
  • precancerous tissue
  • spasmolytic polypeptide expressing metaplasia (spem)
  • genetic instability

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Footnotes

  • JZ, CZ and CW are joint first authors.

  • Contributors JC: acquired most of the experimental data and facilitated the preparation of the manuscript. CZ and CW: collected clinical samples and provided pathological evaluations. CH: analysed the sequencing data. DMC: participated in the data analysis and the writing of the manuscript. YG: managed the project, analysed the data and took part in the writing of the manuscript. BL: established the H. felis mouse model and supervised clinical sample collection. ZS: initiated the project and guided data analysis as well as the writing of the manuscript. All of the authors approved the final version of the manuscript.

  • Funding The authors have not declared a specific grant for this research from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.

  • Competing interests None declared.

  • Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.

  • Patient consent for publication Obtained.