The putative oncogene, CRNDE, is a negative prognostic factor in ovarian cancer patients

// Lukasz Michal Szafron 1, * , Anna Balcerak 2, * , Ewa Anna Grzybowska 2 , Barbara Pienkowska-Grela 1 , Agnieszka Podgorska 1 , Renata Zub 2 , Magdalena Olbryt 3 , Jolanta Pamula-Pilat 3 , Katarzyna M. Lisowska 3 , Ewa Grzybowska 3 , Tymon Rubel 4 , Agnieszka Dansonka-Mieszkowska 1 , Bozena Konopka 1 , Magdalena Kulesza 1 , Martyna Lukasik 1 , Jolanta Kupryjanczyk 1, * 1 Department of Pathology and Laboratory Diagnostics, Maria Sklodowska-Curie Memorial Cancer Center and Institute of Oncology, Warsaw, Poland 2 Department of Molecular and Translational Oncology, Maria Sklodowska-Curie Memorial Cancer Center and Institute of Oncology, Warsaw, Poland 3 Center for Translational Research and Molecular Biology of Cancer, Maria Sklodowska-Curie Memorial Cancer Center and Institute of Oncology, Gliwice Branch, Poland 4 Institute of Radioelectronics and Multimedia Technology, Warsaw University of Technology, Warsaw, Poland * These authors have contributed equally to this work Correspondence to: Lukasz Michal Szafron, e-mail: lukszafron@gmail.com Keywords: ovarian cancer, prognostic factor, CRNDE, gene expression, TP53 Received: June 18, 2015 Accepted: October 06, 2015 Published: November 04, 2015 ABSTRACT The CRNDE gene seems to play an oncogenic role in cancers, though its exact function remains unknown. Here, we tried to assess its usefulness as a molecular prognostic marker in ovarian cancer. Based on results of our microarray studies, CRNDE transcripts were further analyzed by Real-Time qPCR-based profiling of their expression. The qPCR study was conducted with the use of personally designed TaqMan assays on 135 frozen tissue sections of ovarian carcinomas from patients treated with platinum compounds and either cyclophosphamide (PC, N = 32) or taxanes (TP, N = 103). Elevated levels of two different CRNDE transcripts were a negative prognostic factor; they increased the risk of death and recurrence in the group of patients treated with TP, but not PC (DNA-damaging agents only). Higher associations were found for overexpression of the short CRNDE splice variant (FJ466686): HR 6.072, 95% CI 1.814–20.32, p = 0.003 (the risk of death); HR 15.53, 95% CI 3.812–63.28, p < 0.001 (the risk of recurrence). Additionally, accumulation of the TP53 protein correlated with decreased expression of both CRNDE transcripts in tumor cells. Our results depict CRNDE as a potential marker of poor prognosis in women with ovarian carcinomas, and suggest that its significance depends on the therapeutic regimen used.