Bouchard Dominique, Morisset Dany, Bourbonnais Yves, Tremblay Guy M
Laval Hospital, Laval University Institute of Pneumology and Cardiology, Quebec, Canada.
Lancet Oncol. 2006 Feb;7(2):167-74. doi: 10.1016/S1470-2045(06)70579-4.
The importance of early diagnosis to reduce the morbidity and mortality from cancer has led to a search for new sensitive and specific tumour markers. Molecular techniques developed over the past few years allow simultaneous screening of thousands of genes, and have been applied to different cancers to identify many genes that are modulated in various cancers. Of these, attention has focused on genes coding for a family of proteins with whey-acidic-protein (WAP) motifs. Most notably, the genes coding for elafin, antileukoproteinase 1 (previously called secretory leucocyte proteinase inhibitor, SLPI), WAP four disulphide core domain protein 1 (previously called prostate stromal protein 20 kDa, PS20), and WAP four disulphide core domain protein 2 (previously called major human epididymis-specific protein E4, HE4), have been identified as candidate molecular markers for several cancers. In this review, we assess data for an association between cancer and human WAP proteins, and discuss their potential role in tumour progression. We also propose a new mechanism by which WAP proteins might have a role in carcinogenesis.
早期诊断对于降低癌症发病率和死亡率的重要性促使人们寻找新的敏感且特异的肿瘤标志物。过去几年发展起来的分子技术能够同时筛选数千个基因，并已应用于不同癌症以鉴定出许多在各类癌症中发生调控变化的基因。其中，注意力集中在了编码具有乳清酸性蛋白（WAP）基序的一类蛋白质的基因上。最值得注意的是，编码弹性蛋白酶、抗白细胞蛋白酶1（以前称为分泌型白细胞蛋白酶抑制剂，SLPI）、WAP四二硫键核心结构域蛋白1（以前称为前列腺基质蛋白20 kDa，PS20）以及WAP四二硫键核心结构域蛋白2（以前称为主要的人附睾特异性蛋白E4，HE4）的基因已被鉴定为几种癌症的候选分子标志物。在本综述中，我们评估了癌症与人类WAP蛋白之间关联的数据，并讨论了它们在肿瘤进展中的潜在作用。我们还提出了一种WAP蛋白可能在致癌过程中发挥作用的新机制。
