Using GINI2 to identify novel mutations in candidate tumor suppressor genes in colon cancer cells

Inhibition of the nonsense mediated decay (NMD) mechanism in cells results in stabilization of transcripts carrying premature translation termination codons. A strategy referred to as gene indentification by NMD inhibition (GINI) has been proposed to identify genes carrying nonsense mutations (Noensie & Dietz, 2001). Genes containing frameshift mutations in colon cancer cell line have been identifying mutatnt genes using GINI, we have now further improved the strategy. In this approach, inhibition of NMD with emetine is complemented with inhibiting NMD by blocking the phosphorylation of the hUpf1 protein with caffeine. In addition, to enhance the GINI strategy, comparing mRNA level alterations produced by inhibiting transcription alone or inhbiiting transcription together with NMD following caffeine pretreatment were used for the efficient identification of false positives produced as a result of stress response to NMD inhibition. To demonstrate the improved efficiency of this approach, we analyzed colon cancer cell lines showing microstellite instability. Bi-allelic inactivating mutations were found in the FXR1, SEC1L1, NCOR1, BAT3, PHD14, ZNF294, C190ORF5 genes as well as genes coding for proteins with yet unknown functions.

8

Ivanov I, Lo KC, Hawthorn L, Cowell JK, Ionov Y