• Molecules and Cells
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.223-227
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• 2005

We have identified TMPRSS6, a novel type 2 transmembrane serine protease. TMPRSS6 possesses all the signature motifs of the family of transmembrane serine proteases (TMPRSSs), including a transmembrane domain, an LDL receptor class A (LDLRA) domain, a scavenger receptor cysteine-rich (SRCR) domain, and a serine protease domain. The substrate specificity of TMPRSS6 is slightly different from those of other TMPRSS family members. Combined with the finding that TMPRSS6 is expressed strongly in the thyroid and weakly in the trachea, this may indicate that TMPRSS6 has a specialized role.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.7
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• pp.3099-3103
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• 2014

TMPRSS2:ERG gene fusions in prostate cancer have a dominant prevalence of approximately 50.0%, but infomration is limited on differences among ethnic and geographical groups. Some studies focusing on Japanese and Korean patients reported a lower incidence. Investigations concerning Chinese revealed controversial results. We evaluated TMPRSS2:ERG, TMPRSS2:ETV1 and TMPRSS2:ETV4 fusions in more than 100 Eastern Chinese prostate cancer patients. Paraffin blocks of needle biopsy and radical prostatectomy were collected from 91 and 18 patients respectively. All patients' clinicopathologic factors were gathered. TMPRSS2:ERG, TMPRSS2:ETV1 and TMPRSS2:ETV4 fusions were tested by multi-probe fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) assay. TMPRSS2:ERG fusions was present in 14.3% biopsy specimens and 11.1% radical prostatectomy patients. Neither TMPRSS2:ETV1 nor TMPRSS2:ETV4 fusion was found in any case. Altogether, 13 (86.7%) TMPRSS2:ERG fusion positive cases possessed deletion pattern and 7 (46.6%) and insertion pattern. Some 5 cases had both deletion and insertion patterns. While 38.5% (5/13) patients with deletion pattern had distant metastasis, except for one metastatic case harboring both deletion and insertion, there were no patients with insertion pattern accompanied with metastasis. There were no differences between fusion positive and negative cases in the distribution of age, PSA, Gleason score and TNM stage. Eastern Chinese prostate cancer patients have a significantly low incidence of TMPRSS2:ERG fusion. They also lack TMPRSS2:ETV1 and TMPRSS2:ETV4 fusion. There are more deletion pattern than insertion pattern in TMPRSS2:ERG positive cases. Fusion positive and negative patients have no clinicopathologic factor differences.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.13 no.10
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• pp.4935-4938
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• 2012

In this study we evaluated the frequency of fusion between TMPRSS2 and ETS family members (ERG, ETV1, ETV4) in prostate cancers in patients from northern China in order to explore differences in fusion rates among regions in northern and southern China, other parts of Asia, Europe, and North America. We examined 100 prostate cancer patients, diagnosed by means of prostate biopsy; fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) was used to detect the expression of TMPRSS2, ERG, ETV1 and ETV4 in cancer tissue. Differences in gene fusion rates among different ethnics groups were also analyzed. Of the 100 prostate cancer patients, 55 (55%) had the fusion gene. Among the patients with the fusion gene, 46 (83.6%) patients had the TMPRSS2:ERG fusion product, 8 (14.8%) patients had TMPRSS2:ETV1 fusion, 1 (1.6%) patient had TMPRSS2:ETV4.

• Biomedical Science Letters
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.190-195
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• 2019

Hemoglobin (Hb) concentrations and hematocrit (Hct) values can be changed by factors such as erythrocyte production, destruction, and bleeding. In addition, variants in the protein expression involved in the amount of red blood cells that determine Hb metabolism or Hct value can increase susceptibility to complex blood diseases. Previous studies have reported significant single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) by applying a genome-wide association study (GWAS) on Hb levels and Hct values in European population. In this study, we confirmed whether the significant SNPs are replicated in Koreans. In previous studies, 26 and 18 SNPs with a significant correlation Hb and Hct were identified in Korean genotype data, and 21 and 12 SNPs were selected, respectively. The SNPs of PRKCE (rs10495928), TMPRSS6 (rs2235321, rs5756505, rs855791) were significantly associated with Hb (P<0.05). In the association analysis of Hct, the SNPs of HBS1L (rs6920211, rs9389268, rs9483788), PRKCE (rs4953318), SCGN (rs9348689) and TMPRSS6 (rs2413450) genes showed a significant correlation (P<0.05). Replicated SNPs and not replicated SNPs showed the difference of genetic distance calculated by Fst. The replicated SNPs with a significant correlation showed similar allele frequencies, whereas the not replicated SNPs showed a large difference in allele frequency. All replicated SNPs with significant correlations had Fst values less than 0.05, indicating that the genetic distance between the groups was close. On the other hand, the not replicated SNPs showed that the Fst value was 0.05 or more and the genetic distance was relatively large.

• Genomics & Informatics
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.159-163
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• 2010

Erythrocyte traits are heritable and indirect indicators of blood diseases caused by erythrocyte, but their genetic factors are largely unknown. So we performed genome-wide association study in 8,842 Korean individuals to identify genetic factors influencing erythrocyte traits. We identified 40 associations for three erythrocyte traits at genome-wide significance levels (p < $1{\times}10^{-6}$). We compared these associated loci with those reported in genome-wide association studies of European and Japanese. Our findings include previously identified loci(HBS1L-MYB, TMPRSS6, USP49 and CCND3) in other studies and novel associations (MRDS1/OFCC1, CSDE1, NRAS and 8 other loci). For example, SNP rs4895440 of HBS1L-MYB intergenic region on chromosome 6q23.3 is one of the most associations influencing erythrocyte traits (p=$8.33{\times}10^{-27}$).