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.