EXPRESSION OF STRUCTURE-SPECIFIC RECOGNITION PROTEIN MESSENGER-RNA INFETAL KIDNEY AND FE-NITRILOTRIACETATE-INDUCED RENAL-CARCINOMA IN THE RAT

Specific expression of the structure-specific recognition protein (SSR P) gene was investigated in rat fetal, adult, and tumor tissues using a 2.0-kb partial sequence of rat SSRP cDNA isolated from a cDNA librar y of rat renal cell carcinoma. The results revealed that it was rather specifically expressed in rat fetal kidney and renal cell carcinoma i nduced by Fe-nitrilotriacetate, but not in adult kidney, when various organs were tested by Northern blot analysis. Tn situ hybridization fu rther demonstrated that it was located in the neoplastic cells of rena l cell carcinoma and in the epithelial cells of fetal kidney but undet ectable in any cells of normal adult kidney. These observations seem t o imply the involvement of SSRP gene, which is believed to recognize s tructural alterations of DNA, in kidney development and carcinogenesis of certain types of kidney cancer.