Zodwa Dlamini
Mangosuthu University of Technology ,South Africa
Title: Expression Analysis of the Peripheral Benzodiazepine Receptor in Cancers
Biography
Biography: Zodwa Dlamini
Abstract
The Peripheral Benzodiazepine Receptor (PBR) is a distinct receptor from the central benzodiazepine receptor. PBR is involved in numerous biological conditions including the regulation of cellular proliferation and apoptosis, steroidogenesis, heme biosynthesis, anion and porphyrin transport and mitochondrial functions such as oxidative phosphorylation and translocation of cholesterol from the outer to the inner mitochondrial membrane. Recent studies have shown that the expression of PBR correlated with tumour malignancy and patient survival. The current study aims to determine the expression pattern and level of PBR mRNA in various types of healthy human tissue and their cancerous counterparts. Tissue arrays of multiple organs containing normal and diseased tumour tissues were probed with sense and anti-sense PBR probes. Increased levels of PBR mRNA were observed in most cancer types with some notable exceptions. PBR mRNA expression levels decreased as tumours became more invasive while in prostate adenocarcinoma of the peripheral duct and acini PBR mRNA expression increased as tumour invasion increased. Increased levels of PBR in various types of cancer tissues suggest an involvement of this gene and its products in human tunorigenesis.