Disease relevance of DOCK8

• Homozygous deletion and reduced expression of the DOCK8 gene in human lung cancer [1].
• Further screening revealed homozygous deletions of the DOCK8 gene in a gastric and a breast cancer cell line [1].

High impact information on DOCK8

• The monoallelic expression was restricted to the ANKRD15 gene, whereas biallelic expression was found in the DOCK8 gene, which resides at the telomeric side of the deletion [2].
• Isolation and characterisation of DOCK8, a member of the DOCK180-related regulators of cell morphology [3].
• Transient transfection of a C-terminal fragment of DOCK8 resulted in the formation of vesicular structures [3].
• Immunofluorescence staining showed that transiently transfected HA-tagged DOCK8, as well as endogenous DOCK8, was present at the cell edges in areas undergoing lamellipodia formation [3].
• 5-Aza-2'-deoxy-cytidine and/or Trichostatin A treatments induced DOCK8 expression in lung cancer cell lines with reduced DOCK8 expression [1].

Biological context of DOCK8

• Therefore, epigenetic mechanisms, including DNA methylation and histone deacetylation, were indicated to be involved in DOCK8 down-regulation in lung cancer cells [1].
• A homozygous deletion of the DOCK8 (dedicator of cytokinesis 8) locus at chromosome 9p24 was found in a lung cancer cell line by array-CGH analysis [1].

Anatomical context of DOCK8

• DOCK8 was expressed in a variety of human organs, including the lungs, and was also expressed in type II alveolar, bronchiolar epithelial and bronchial epithelial cells, which are considered as being progenitors for lung cancer cells [1].

References