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BHLHB3: a candidate tumor suppressor in lung cancer

Oncogene volume 27, pages 3761–3764 (2008)Cite this article

Abstract

BHLHB3 is a basic helix-loop-helix (bHLH) domain-containing protein that acts as a transcriptional repressor. We found that BHLHB3 transcript levels were low in three human lung cancer cell lines and downregulated in human lung adenocarcinomas as compared to normal lung tissue. BHLHB3 gene overexpression inhibited colony formation of A549, NCI-H520 and NCI-H596 lung cancer cells. The reduced colony growth was likely due to inhibition of cell proliferation as suggested by the downregulation of cyclin D1 (CCND1) expression in NCI-H520 cells transfected to overexpress the BHLHB3 gene; no evidence of apoptosis was observed. These results point to the potential role of the BHLHB3 protein as a tumor suppressor for lung cancer.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Dr Mitsuhide Noshiro (Hiroshima University, Hiroshima, Japan) for the gift of the plasmid pCYP7A(1.8)-Luc, and Professor Ueli Schibler (University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland) for the gift of the plasmid pSCT/DBP. This work was funded in part by grants from Associazione and Fondazione Italiana Ricerca Cancro (AIRC and FIRC) and from Fondo Investimenti Ricerca di Base (FIRB).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Experimental Oncology and Laboratories, Fondazione IRCCS Istituto Nazionale Tumori, Milan, Italy

    F S Falvella, F Colombo, M Spinola, M Campiglio & T A Dragani

  2. Unit of Thoracic Surgery, Fondazione IRCCS Istituto Nazionale Tumori, Milan, Italy

    U Pastorino

Authors
  1. F S Falvella
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  2. F Colombo
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  3. M Spinola
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  4. M Campiglio
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  5. U Pastorino
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  6. T A Dragani
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to T A Dragani.

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GenBank acc. number: AY665467.

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Falvella, F., Colombo, F., Spinola, M. et al. BHLHB3: a candidate tumor suppressor in lung cancer. Oncogene 27, 3761–3764 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.onc.1211038

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.onc.1211038

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