Effects of TIN2 on telomeres and chromosomes in the human gastric epithelial cell line GES-1.

TERF1-interacting nuclear factor 2 (TIN2) is a key member of the protein complexes that protect telomeres. TIN2 contributes an important role in biological processes. In a previous study by the present authors, an association was reported between high TIN2 protein expression and gastric cancer. Therefore, it was hypothesized that abnormal TIN2 expression may cause the development of malignancies, including, gastric carcinomas. To investigate this hypothesis, the present study employed peptide nucleic acid fluorescence in situ hybridization technology to analyze the human gastric epithelial GES-1 cells with high TIN2 expression or inhibited TIN2 expression. The results indicated that GES-1 cell lines with high TIN2 expression exhibited greater telomere dysfunction-induced damage compared with GES-1 cell lines with inhibited TIN2 expression. Chromosome analysis indicated that GES-1 cells with high TIN2 expression exhibited 2.48±1.30 aberrant chromosomal changes per 100 cells, that may contribute to telomere DNA damage. Therefore, aberrant chromosomal alterations may provide a novel perspective for the pathogenesis of gastric cancer.