Abstract
BACKGROUND/AIM: Molecular mechanisms of alterations in protein tyrosine phosphatases (PTPs) genes in cancer have been previously described and include chromosomal aberrations, gene mutations, and epigenetic silencing. However, little is known about small intragenic gains and losses that may lead to either changes in expression or enzyme activity and even loss of protein function. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The aim of this study was to investigate 25 phosphatase genes using customized array comparative genomic hybridization in 16 sporadic colorectal cancer tissues. RESULTS: The analysis revealed two unique small alterations: of 2 kb in PTPN14 intron 1 and of 1 kb in PTPRJ intron 1. We also found gains and losses of whole PTPs gene sequences covered by large chromosome aberrations. CONCLUSION: In our preliminary studies using high-resolution custom microarray we confirmed that PTPs are frequently subjected to whole-gene rearrangements in colorectal cancer, and we revealed that non-polymorphic intragenic changes are rare.