Abstract
The tumor necrosis factor α-induced protein 8 (TNFAIP8)-like (TIPE) protein family comprises four members, namely TNFAIP8, TIPE1, TIPE2 and TIPE3, which are involved in multiple processes in cancer. The current study aimed to investigate the expression patterns and potential clinical roles of the TIPE family members in human colorectal cancer (CRC). Paired tumor and adjacent tissue samples were collected from 49 patients with CRC, and the relative mRNA expression levels of the TIPE family members in these samples were evaluated by using reverse transcription-quantitative PCR, and the protein levels in five randomly selected pairs of tumor and adjacent tissue samples were detected by western blot analysis. The mRNA expression levels of the TIPE family members were significantly downregulated in CRC tumor tissues compared with those in the adjacent tissues; however, within each sample, TNFAIP8 and TIPE3 protein levels were only partially consistent with their mRNA levels. In addition, the mRNA expression levels between each pair of TIPE family members exhibited a positive linear relationship, and TIPE2 mRNA levels exhibited strong linear associations with those of TNFAIP8 and TIPE1. TNFAIP8 mRNA expression levels in tumor tissues were significantly associated with the tumor differentiation grade, and TIPE2 mRNA expression levels in tumor tissues were significantly associated with sex. TIPE1 and TIPE3 mRNA expression levels in tumor tissues exhibited no associations with patient clinicopathological characteristics. In addition, the mRNA expression patterns of the TIPE family members were analyzed using data from The Cancer Genome Atlas data set, and the results also demonstrated that TNFAIP8, TIPE2 and TIPE3 mRNA levels were downregulated in patients with colon adenocarcinoma compared with those in normal controls. These results provided evidence that the four members of the TIPE family may affect each other to mediate the carcinogenesis of CRC, and that TIPE2 may serve an important role in CRC.