Up-regulation and clinical relevance of novel helicase homologue DHX32 in colorectal cancer

BACKGROUND: This study aimed to find novel biomarkers for colorectal cancer. METHODS: Fluorescent mRNA differential display PCR (DD-PCR) was used to screen the genes differentially expressed in colorectal cancer tissues and their adjacent tissues. The differentially expressed genes were confirmed by real-time PCR and then their clinical relevance (such as association with tumor location and lymph gland metastasis) was further investigated. RESULTS: We identified by DD-PCR a novel RNA helicase, DHX32, which showed higher expression in colorectal cancer tissues than their adjacent tissues, and this result was confirmed by real time RT-PCR. In addition, we found that the level of DHX32 gene expression in colorectal cancer was significantly associated with cancer location, lymph gland metastasis, cancer nodal status, differentiation grade, and Dukes, stage. CONCLUSION: DHX32 may play an important role in the development of colorectal cancer and could serve as a novel biomarker for colorectal cancer after additional investigation.