Sun Shi-Yong
Department of Hematology and Medical Oncology, Emory University School of Medicine and Winship Cancer Institute, Atlanta, Georgia.
Mol Cell Pharmacol. 2011 Jan 1;3(1):31-34.
The normal function of the extrinsic apoptotic pathway is to mediate apoptosis. Thus, this pathway is generally recognized to be critical in host immune surveillance against cancer. However, many studies have suggested that some key components in this pathway including Fas, death receptor 5 (DR5), Fas-associated death domain (FADD) and caspase-8 may contribute to cancer growth or metastasis. Our recent study on DR5 and caspase-8 expression in human head and neck cancer tissues indicate that high caspase-8 either alone or along with high DR5 in tumor tissue from patients with lymph node metastasis is significantly associated with poor disease-free survival and overall survival, suggesting that these proteins may be involved in positive regulation of cancer metastasis. Thus, efforts should be made to better understand the role of the death receptor 5/FADD/caspase-8 death signaling in regulation of cancer metastasis.
外在凋亡途径的正常功能是介导细胞凋亡。因此，该途径通常被认为在宿主对癌症的免疫监视中至关重要。然而，许多研究表明，该途径中的一些关键成分，包括Fas、死亡受体5（DR5）、Fas相关死亡结构域（FADD）和半胱天冬酶-8，可能促进癌症生长或转移。我们最近关于人头颈癌组织中DR5和半胱天冬酶-8表达的研究表明，在有淋巴结转移患者的肿瘤组织中，单独的高半胱天冬酶-8或与高DR5一起，与无病生存期和总生存期差显著相关，这表明这些蛋白可能参与癌症转移的正调控。因此，应该努力更好地理解死亡受体5/FADD/半胱天冬酶-8死亡信号在癌症转移调控中的作用。
