The gene encoding 'deleted in breast cancer 2' (DBC2), also referred to as RHOBTB2 (Rho-related BTB domain-containing protein 2), is classified as a tumor suppressor gene.
Therefore, RhoBTB2 is an important tumor suppressor gene related with breast cancer and may play antitumor roles by inhibiting proliferation, preventing colony formation and promoting the apoptosis of tumor cells.
We discovered that RhoBTB2 expression was lacking in a breast ductal epithelial carcinoma cell line T-47D but was expressed in other types of tumor cell lines and normal tissues we tested.
RhoBTB2, or Deleted in Breast Cancer 2 (DBC2), identified as a candidate tumor suppressor gene for breast cancer and other human malignancies, is an atypical member of a novel gene family encoding small GTPases.
Aberrant methylation and down-regulation of DBC2 were observed preferentially in tumor samples (P < 0.05), and the expression changes were associated with methylation (P < 0.05).
Interest in RhoBTB arose when RHOBTB2 was identified as the gene homozygously deleted in breast cancer samples and was proposed as a candidate tumor suppressor gene, a property that has been extended to RHOBTB1.
In DBC2, we found a single somatic mutation in a tumour (E349D) that lies in a highly conserved region of the protein. mRNA levels for both genes were reduced in the majority of bladder cancer cell lines.