Abstract: Ret finger protein(RFP) is a member of the tripartite motif family, which is characterized by a conserved RING finger of motif, a B-box, and a coiled-coil domain(they are called RBCC generally). Although RFP was known to be an oncogene when its RBCC moiety was connected with a tyrosine kinase domain by DNA rearrangement, its biological function was not well defined. In this study, by using real-time RT-PCR, the RFP expressions in human and mouse normal tissues, and in the cervical squamous cell carcinoma, endometrial adenocarcinoma, gastric adenocarcinoma, esophageal squamous cell carcinoma, and brain cancer tissues were analyzed. The result of the study proved that the highest level of mRNA reverse transcription appeared in the normal testical tissue, whereas that in other normal tissues of human and mice were low. The mRNA reverse transcription level of RFP was higher in the endometrial adenocarcinoma tissue than in the cervical squamous cell carcinoma tissue; the mRNA reverse transcription level of RFP in the gastric adenocarcinoma tissue was significantly higher than that in the esophageal squamous cell carcinoma tissue. It was also found that the mRNA reverse transcription level of RFP in the brain cancer tissue was higher than that in the normal brain tissue. These results suggested that RFP could possibly be a useful molecular target for the development of new therapeutics for malignant tumors.

Key words: RFP, Real-time RT-PCR, Carcinoma, Cancer