Rho Seung Bae, Byun Hyun-Jung, Park Sang-Yoon, Chun Taehoon
Research Institute, National Cancer Center, 809, Madu 1-dong, Ilsan-gu, Goyang-si, Gyeonggi-do 411-769, Republic of Korea.
Cancer Lett. 2008 Nov 28;271(2):306-13. doi: 10.1016/j.canlet.2008.06.020. Epub 2008 Jul 26.
Since calpain 6 is overexpressed in uterine cervical cancer tissue compared to normal tissue, we sought to define the role of calpain 6 during tumorigenesis. We overexpressed calpain 6 or inhibited calpain 6 in human cervical cancer cells (HeLa cells) and human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs), and measured cisplatin-mediated apoptosis and VEGF-mediated angiogenesis. The results indicated that calpain 6 supported tumorigenesis by inhibiting apoptosis and facilitating angiogenesis. To our knowledge, this result is the first evidence implicating calpain 6 in tumorigenesis, and it reveals calpain 6 as a novel therapeutic target for certain types of cancers.