Is a clustered set of three Sp-family genes ancestral in the Metazoa : evidence from sequence analysis , protein domain structure , developmental expression patterns and chromosomal location?
All available data provide strong evidence for an ancestral cluster of three Sp-family genes as well as synteny of this Sp cluster and the Hox cluster. The ancestral Sp gene cluster already contained a Sp5/btd ortholog, which strongly suggests that btd is not the result of a recent gene duplication, but directly traces back to an ancestral gene already present in the metazoan ancestor.
We found that PAX6 gene was specifically methylated in NSCLC, and demonstrated the effect of promoter methylation of PAX6 gene on clinical outcome in NSCLC, indicating the methylated PAX6 may be useful biomarkers for prognostic evaluation in NSCLC.