Research Article The c-MYC Protooncogene Expression in Cholesteatoma

Copyright © 2014 Eniko ̋ Palko ́ et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Cholesteatoma is an epidermoid cyst, which ismost frequently found in themiddle ear.Thematrix of cholesteatoma is histologically similar to the matrix of the epidermoid cyst of the skin (atheroma); their epithelium is characterized by hyperproliferation. The c-MYC protooncogene located on chromosome 8q24 encodes a transcription factor involved in the regulation of cell proliferation and differentiation. Previous studies have found aneuploidy of chromosome 8, copy number variation of c-MYC gene, and the presence of elevated level c-MYC protein in cholesteatoma. In this study we have compared the expression of c-MYC gene in samples taken from thematrix of 26 acquired cholesteatomas (15 children and 11 adults), 15 epidermoid cysts of the skin (atheromas; head and neck region) and 5 normal skin samples (retroauricular region) using RT-qPCR, providing the first precise measuremen