Bioinformatic analysis of human opn3 alternative promoters associated with cancer

Abstract

In this bioinformatics study we analyzed the functional motifs and structural features of regulatory regions of OPN3, a member of the guanine nucleotide-binding protein (G protein)-coupled receptor super-family, which is involved in cancer and drug resistance. Our analyses showed major differences in the two OPN3 promoters located at the 5'-side of the locus. The analyzed parameter set, structural differences of regulatory sequences dignified by dinucleotide base stacking energy and GC-skew, CpG islands (CGI) and transcription factors binding sites (TFBS) of alternative promoters, showed differences that can be exploited to modulate and/or enhance the expression of OPN3 in human tissues. Further, the statistical cluster analysis of OPN3 mRNA expression measurements in various human tissues indicated significant variation that could be associated with SOX5 and EBF3, transcription factors highly associated with cancer. Our findings strengthen a role for OPN3 regulatory sequences in oncogenesis and drug resistance. 2016 NSP Natural Sciences Publishing Cor.