Figure 1

Down-regulation of TUSC2 expression in mesothelioma. A. TUSC2 mRNA levels are decreased in the majority of mesotheliomas. Semi-quantitative RT-PCR analysis of RNA isolated from matched normal and tumor specimens derived from mesothelioma patients. Upper panel (reproduced from [23]) displays RT-PCR products obtained with TUSC2-specific primers; bottom panel represents a loading control - RT-PCR products with the primers specific for PPIA, an invariantly expressed gene. N- normal tissue, T- tumor. Numbers at top represent disease stages, numbers at bottom show normalized fold change. B. Representative examples of TUSC2 immunohistochemical staining of mesothelioma and normal peritoneum. Intensity levels of TUSC2 staining designated as, 3+, 2+ and 1+ are illustrated by representative images. C. Loss of the 3p21.3 chromosomal area in mesothelioma tumor specimens as identified by ROMA. Synoptic map of DNA copy number variation in chromosome 3 in mesotheliomas (FDR = 0.09). Arrow shows the site of recurrent loss of TUSC2-containing 3p21.3 region in mesothelioma patients (n = 22). D. Detailed view of the 3p21.3 region losses in different mesothelioma patients and identification of common deletion area. Green boxes represent deletions detected in patients diagnosed with different stages of mesothelioma while red sector show gains. Coded patient IDs are shown in the left and disease stages in the right.