The Promoter Region of the Proto-Oncogene MST1R Contains the Main Features of G-Quadruplexes Formation

Abstract

MST1R (RON) is a receptor of the MET tyrosine kinase receptor family involved in several cancers such as pancreas, breast, ovary, colon, and stomach. Some studies have shown that overexpression of MST1R increases the migratory and invasive properties of cancer cells. The promoter region of the oncogene MST1R is enriched in guanine residues that can potentially form G-quadruplexes (G4s), as it was observed in other oncogenic promoters such as KRAS and c-MYC. There is abundant literature that links the presence of G4s in promoter regions of oncogenes to diverse gene regulation processes that are not well understood. In this work, we have studied the reverse and forward sequence of MST1R promoter region using the G4Hunter software and performed biophysical studies to characterize the best scored sequences.