Clinicopathological Characteristics of TZAP Expression in Colorectal Cancers

Soo-Jung Jung,1 Yu-Ri Seo,2 Won-Jin Park,1 Yu-Ran Heo,1 Yun-Han Lee,2 Shin Kim,3 Jae-Ho Lee1 1Department of Anatomy, Keimyung University School of Medicine, Daegu, South Korea; 2Department of Molecular Medicine, School of Medicine, Keimyung University, Daegu, South Korea; 3Department of Immunology, School of Medicine, Keimyung University, Daegu, South KoreaCorrespondence: Jae-Ho LeeDepartment of Anatomy, Keimyung University School of Medicine, 1035, Dalgubeol-Daero, Dalseo-Gu, Daegu 42601, Republic of KoreaTel +82-53-258-7512Email anato82@dsmc.or.krShin KimDepartment of Immunology, Keimyung University School of Medicine, 1035, Dalgubeol-Daero, Dalseo-Gu, Daegu 42601, Republic of KoreaEmail god98005@dsmc.or.krPurpose: The zinc finger protein, ZBTB48, is a telomere-associated protein. It was renamed as telomeric zinc finger-associated protein (TZAP) binding to elongated telomeres. However, its expression level was not measured in cancers.Patients and Methods: We analyzed TZAP mRNA levels in 60 colorectal cancers (CRC) and its correlation with telomere length and TERT was studied.Results: TZAP mRNA in CRC was higher statistically than that in paired non-cancerous tissues (p = 0.033). Higher TZAP was found in carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA)-positive CRCs (> 5 ng/mL) (p = 0.012). Shorter telomere was found in CRCs with high TZAP expression than that with low TZAP expression (p = 0.010). According to quantitative correlation analysis, TZAP has a correlation with age (r = − 0.349, p = 0.007), TERT (r = 0.279, p = 0.041) and telomere length (r = − 0.305, p = 0.021). TZAP expression did not harbor prognostic value in CRC. Inhibition of TZAP expression by siRNA suppresses cell growth in HT29 cells; however, it resulted in increased cell viability in HCT116 cells. TZAP inhibition induces a decrease in mRNA levels of TERT in both HT29 and HCT116 cells. TCGA data analysis showed higher expression of TZAP showed poorer overall survival in colon cancer (p