Junichirou Hiro

Mie University, Tsu-shi, Mie-ken, Japan

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Publications (5)7.33 Total impact

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    Article: TTYH2, a human homologue of the Drosophila melanogaster gene tweety, is up-regulated in colon carcinoma and involved in cell proliferation and cell …
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    ABSTRACT: AIM: To investigate the expression patterns of TTYH2 in the human colon cancer and colon cancer cell lines and to evaluate the inhibitory effect of small interfering RNA (siRNA) on the expression of TTYH2 in colon cancer cell lines. METHODS: We investigated the expression patterns of TTYH2 in colon cancer, adjacent non-tumorous colon mucosa, and cancer cell lines (DLD-1, caco-2, and Lovo) by RT-PCR. Furthermore, a siRNA plasmid expression vector against TTYH2 was constructed and transfected into DLD-1 and Caco-2 with Lipofectamine TM 2000. The down regulation of TTYH2 expression was detected by RT-PCR and the role of siRNA in inducing cell proliferation and cell aggregation was evaluated by MTT and aggregation assay. RESULTS: TTYH2 gene expression in colon cancer tissue was significantly up-regulated compared with normal colonic mucosa (1.23 ± 0.404 vs 0.655 ± 0.373, P = 0.0103). Colon cancer derived cell lines including DLD-1, Caco-2, and Lovo also expressed high levels of TTYH2. In contrast, transfection with siRNA-TTYH2 significantly inhibited both proliferation and scattering of these cancer cell lines. CONCLUSION: The present work demonstrates, for the first time, that the TTYH2 gene expression is significantly up-regulated in colon cancer. The TTYH2 gene may play an important role in regulating both proliferating and metastatic potentials of colorectal cancer.
    China World J Gastroenterol May. ; 21(13):2717-2721.
  • Article: Overexpression of the signal peptide whirlin isoform 2 is related to disease progression in colorectal cancer patients.
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    ABSTRACT: We identified that whirlin is localized to chromosome 9q32-33, and is up-regulated in colorectal cancer tissues by using oligonucleotide array techniques and the Sosui system (http://www.tuat.ac.jp/~mitaku/sosui/). The deduced 920-amino acid protein encoded by the whirlin gene contains three PDZ domains and a proline-rich region that separates PDZ2 from PDZ3, which is located at the C terminus. As previously reported, human whirlin gene is alternatively spliced to form a long and a short transcript in situ hybridization. The sequence of the encoded protein shows that the short C-terminal isoform contains one PDZ domain and the proline-rich domain (whirlin isoform 2), whereas the long isoform is composed of all three PDZ domains and the proline-rich domain (whirlin isoform 1). The gene expression of whirlin was found to be up-regulated in colorectal cancer tissues compared with matched normal colon tissues by semi-quantitative RT-PCR (P<0.05). Western blotting detected whirlin protein with a molecular mass of 49.3 kDa in colorectal cancer samples, suggesting that the whirlin protein overexpressed in colorectal cancer samples is the short C-terminal isoform 2. Its expression was recognized in colorectal cancer cell lines and was increased in accordance with tumor progression in colorectal cancer patients. Immunohistochemistry showed high levels of staining for whirlin isoform 2 only in the mucosal glands in colon cancers, but this protein was barely detected in normal colonic glands. Immunoelectron microscopic findings showed that whirlin isoform 2 is localized on plasma membranes and endoplasmic reticulum membranes, but not in the nuclei. Tissue microarrays showed that whirlin isoform 2 is abundantly expressed in colon cancers with lymph node metastasis compared with those without lymph node metastasis, and overexpression of this protein was associated with tumor progression. In conclusion, we demonstrated that whirlin isoform 2 is highly expressed in colon cancer tissues and that it is related to tumor progression.
    International Journal of Oncology 10/2009; 35(4):709-15. · 2.40 Impact Factor
  • Article: Serum immunosuppressive acidic protein reflects systemic deterioration of colorectal cancer patient condition.
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    ABSTRACT: Immunosuppressive acidic protein (IAP) is a potent biological marker for immunological surveillance in patients with malignant tumors. This study aimed to investigate the significance of serum IAP as an index of disease status, clinicopathological findings and prognosis in colorectal cancer. A total of 101 patients with colorectal cancer and 80 normal volunteers were included in this retrospective trial. Preoperative serum IAP was assayed using a commercially available enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay kit. The serum IAP level in the patients, which was not associated with clinicopathological features except for tumor size, was significantly higher than that in controls. The serum IAP level was closely correlated with percent body weight loss, serum albumin and cholinesterase, and percentage of circulating lymphocytes reflecting the host's nutritional and immunological conditions. Interestingly, these parameters were not associated with factors reflecting disease progression except for tumor size. The prognosis of patients with higher IAP levels was significantly worse than that of patients with lower IAP levels. Furthermore, an elevated serum IAP level was an independent prognostic marker in all patients. The preoperative serum IAP level may reflect the general condition of colorectal cancer patients, and thus may predict long-term survival independently of stage progression.
    Journal of Surgical Oncology 05/2008; 97(5):404-8. · 2.10 Impact Factor
  • Article: TTYH2, a human homologue of the Drosophila melanogaster gene tweety, is up-regulated in colon carcinoma and involved in cell proliferation and cell aggregation.
    [show abstract] [hide abstract]
    ABSTRACT: To investigate the expression patterns of TTYH2 in the human colon cancer and colon cancer cell lines and to evaluate the inhibitory effect of small interfering RNA (siRNA) on the expression of TTYH2 in colon cancer cell lines. We investigated the expression patterns of TTYH2 in colon cancer, adjacent non-tumorous colon mucosa, and cancer cell lines (DLD-1, caco-2, and Lovo) by RT-PCR. Furthermore, a siRNA plasmid expression vector against TTYH2 was constructed and transfected into DLD-1 and Caco-2 with Lipofectamine 2000. The down regulation of TTYH2 expression was detected by RT-PCR and the role of siRNA in inducing cell proliferation and cell aggregation was evaluated by MTT and aggregation assay. TTYH2 gene expression in colon cancer tissue was significantly up-regulated compared with normal colonic mucosa (1.23 +/- 0.404 vs 0.655 +/- 0.373, P = 0.0103). Colon cancer derived cell lines including DLD-1, Caco-2, and Lovo also expressed high levels of TTYH2. In contrast, transfection with siRNA-TTYH2 significantly inhibited both proliferation and scattering of these cancer cell lines. The present work demonstrates, for the first time, that the TTYH2 gene expression is significantly up-regulated in colon cancer. The TTYH2 gene may play an important role in regulating both proliferating and metastatic potentials of colorectal cancer.
    World Journal of Gastroenterology 06/2007; 13(19):2717-21. · 2.47 Impact Factor
  • Article: Clinicopathological features and prognosis of gastric cancer patients > or =75 years of age after laparotomy.
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    ABSTRACT: The aim of this study was to clarify whether gastric cancer in elderly patients warrants surgical resection. Of 320 patients who underwent laparotomy for gastric cancer, 36 were older (elderly group) and 286 were younger than 75 years (control group). Clinicopathological features, mortality, morbidity, and survival were compared between the two groups. There were no differences between the two groups regarding clinicopathological features. There were no significant differences in mortality, morbidity, and the disease-specific 5-year survival rate between the two groups (elderly, 2.9%, 36.1%, and 65.7%, respectively; control, 0.7%, 24.6%, and 80.6%, respectively). The percentage of death from other diseases was 38.5% in the elderly group and 9.1% in the control group; the result was significantly higher in the elderly group (P = 0.0017). Our findings support that gastric cancer in elderly patients warrants surgical resection because the benefits with regard to early and long-term outcomes are the same as for younger patients.
    International surgery 94(1):38-42. · 0.36 Impact Factor