BioProject

Somatic DNA alteration underlies tumor development and progression, and gives rise to tumors with diverse genetic contexts. More...

Somatic DNA alteration underlies tumor development and progression, and gives rise to tumors with diverse genetic contexts. Here, we identify in a collection of 29 colorectal cancer cell lines and 226 primary colorectal tumors recurrent amplification of chromosome 13, an alteration highly restricted to colorectal-derived cancers. A minimal region of amplification on 13q12.2 pinpoints caudal type homeobox transcription factor CDX2, a master regulator of anterior-posterior patterning, midgut development, and intestinal epithelial cell differentiation and maintenance. In contrast to its described role as a colorectal tumor suppressor, we show that in the context of genomic amplification, CDX2 is required for proliferation and anchorage-independent growth of colorectal cancer cells. By genome-wide expression and location analysis, we reveal that CDX2 directly promotes expression of Wnt pathway genes. Further results suggest that CDX2 induces expression of intestinal differentiation markers and modulates b-catenin transcriptional activity. These data characterize CDX2 as a novel lineage-survival oncogene deregulated in colorectal cancer. Overall design: comparative genomic hybridization by array Less...