Herrera-Gayol A, Jothy S
Department of Pathology, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
Exp Mol Pathol. 1999 Jun;66(2):149-56. doi: 10.1006/exmp.1999.2251.
One of the most important features of tumor cell invasion is the ability to establish or modulate adhesion to other cells or to an extracellular matrix, a process mediated by a large number of adhesion proteins. This review examines how CD44 participates in malignant transformation and progression of the breast epithelium. CD44 is a family of cell adhesion glycoproteins generated by alternative splicing of up to 10 variant exons. Discrete CD44 isoforms are overexpressed in different human cancers, including breast cancer. Recent studies, including our own, have shown that CD44 is involved in two of the three steps of the invasive cascade: adhesion to the extracellular matrix and motility. The overexpression of one of the CD44 variants, CD44v6, is a significant component in the malignant transformation of the breast epithelium and its use as a prognostic marker is presently investigated.
肿瘤细胞侵袭的最重要特征之一是能够建立或调节与其他细胞或细胞外基质的黏附，这一过程由大量黏附蛋白介导。本综述探讨了CD44如何参与乳腺上皮细胞的恶性转化和进展。CD44是一个细胞黏附糖蛋白家族，由多达10个可变外显子的选择性剪接产生。不同的CD44亚型在包括乳腺癌在内的多种人类癌症中过表达。包括我们自己的研究在内的近期研究表明，CD44参与侵袭级联反应的三个步骤中的两个：与细胞外基质的黏附和迁移。CD44变体之一CD44v6的过表达是乳腺上皮细胞恶性转化的一个重要组成部分，目前正在研究将其用作预后标志物。
