Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, School of Biomedical Sciences, The University of Queensland, Brisbane QLD 4072, Australia.
Horm Cancer. 2010 Oct;1(5):245-55. doi: 10.1007/s12672-010-0047-1.
Ghrelin is a peptide hormone produced in the stomach and a range of other tissues, where it has endocrine, paracrine and autocrine roles in both normal and disease states. Ghrelin has been shown to be an important growth factor for a number of tumours, including prostate and breast cancers. In this study, we examined the expression of the ghrelin axis (ghrelin and its receptor, the growth hormone secretagogue receptor, GHSR) in endometrial cancer. Ghrelin is expressed in a range of endometrial cancer tissues, while its cognate receptor, GHSR1a, is expressed in a small subset of normal and cancer tissues. Low to moderately invasive endometrial cancer cell lines were examined by RT-PCR and immunoblotting, demonstrating that ghrelin axis mRNA and protein expression correlate with differentiation status of Ishikawa, HEC1B and KLE endometrial cancer cell lines. Moreover, treatment with ghrelin potently stimulated cell proliferation and inhibited cell death. Taken together, these data indicate that ghrelin promotes the progression of endometrial cancer cells in vitro, and may contribute to endometrial cancer pathogenesis and represent a novel treatment target.
胃饥饿素是一种在胃和其他一系列组织中产生的肽类激素，在正常和疾病状态下，它在内分泌、旁分泌和自分泌中均发挥作用。胃饥饿素已被证明是多种肿瘤（包括前列腺癌和乳腺癌）的重要生长因子。在这项研究中，我们研究了胃饥饿素轴（胃饥饿素及其受体，生长激素促分泌素受体，GHSR）在子宫内膜癌中的表达。胃饥饿素在多种子宫内膜癌组织中表达，而其同源受体 GHSR1a 在一小部分正常和癌症组织中表达。通过 RT-PCR 和免疫印迹法检测到低侵袭性和中侵袭性子宫内膜癌细胞系，表明胃饥饿素轴的 mRNA 和蛋白表达与 Ishikawa、HEC1B 和 KLE 子宫内膜癌细胞系的分化状态相关。此外，用胃饥饿素处理可强烈刺激细胞增殖并抑制细胞死亡。总之，这些数据表明胃饥饿素促进了子宫内膜癌细胞在体外的进展，可能有助于子宫内膜癌的发病机制，并代表了一种新的治疗靶点。
