Genetic Alteration in PPP1R3C Gene in Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma

Objectives:  Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma (OSCC) represents 2-4% of cancers diagnosed worldwide. Only half number of the diagnosed patients will be alive in 5 years. Recent unpublished studies have shown that PPP1R3C may be a potential tumour suppressor gene in OSCC, but the mechanism(s) of inactivation are unknown. Thus, this study aimed to determine whether any mutations occur in the coding region of PPP1R3C in 7 OSCC cell lines. Methods: DNA from 7 OSCC cell lines was extracted and both exons of the PPP1R3C gene amplified by Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR). The PCR products were purified, quantified and sequenced. Following this, mutational analyses were carried out in order to identify mutations in the PPP13C gene. Results:  No mutations were identified within the coding region of the PPP1R3C gene. However we identified an intronic missense mutation(c.15-57 C>CT) in 3 OSCC cell lines. This alteration was found to be reported by dbSNP database as a polymorphism but there is no additional information regarding its clinical significance. Conclusion:  Mutations within the coding region of PPP1R3C in OSCC cell lines were not detected, indication inactivating mutations are rare in OSCC. Further studies, such as promoter methylation analyses are required to elucidate the mechanism of PPP1R3C inactivation in OSCC and to investigate the possibility that the PPP1R3C pathway can targeted in novel chemoprevention and therapeutic strategies.