Nishioka Takeshi, Eustace Amanda, West Catharine
Department of Biomedical Sciences and Engineering, Faculty of Health Sciences, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Japan.
Cell Struct Funct. 2012;37(1):75-80. doi: 10.1247/csf.11015.
In this mini-review, we discuss the physiological and pathological roles of lysyl oxidase (LOX) and its family, LOX-like proteins (LOXL), in relation to prognosis of major cancers. The number of reports on LOX family is numerous. We have decided to review the articles that were recently published (i.e. past 5 years). Experimental techniques in molecular biology have advanced surprisingly in the past decade. Accordingly, the results of the studies are more reliable. Most studies reached the same conclusion; a higher LOX- or LOXL- expression is associated with a poor prognosis. Molecular experiments have already started aiming for clinical application, and the results are encouraging. Suppressing LOX or LOXL activities resulted in lower cell motility in collagen gel and, moreover, succeeded in reducing metastases in mice. LOX family members were originally recognized as molecules that cross-link collagen fibers in the extracellular matrix. Recent studies demonstrated that they are also involved in a phenomenon called Epithelial Mesenchymal Transition (EMT). This may affect cell movement and cancer cell invasiveness. LOX and LOXL2 are regulated by hypoxia, a major factor in the failure of cancer treatment. Here we discuss the molecular biology of the LOX family in relation to its role in tumor biology.
在本综述中，我们讨论赖氨酰氧化酶（LOX）及其家族成员类赖氨酰氧化酶蛋白（LOXL）在主要癌症预后方面的生理和病理作用。关于LOX家族的报道数量众多。我们决定回顾最近发表的文章（即过去5年）。在过去十年中，分子生物学实验技术取得了惊人的进展。因此，研究结果更加可靠。大多数研究得出了相同的结论：较高的LOX或LOXL表达与不良预后相关。分子实验已经开始朝着临床应用的方向发展，结果令人鼓舞。抑制LOX或LOXL的活性会导致胶原蛋白凝胶中的细胞运动性降低，此外，还成功减少了小鼠体内的转移。LOX家族成员最初被认为是在细胞外基质中交联胶原纤维的分子。最近的研究表明，它们也参与了一种称为上皮-间质转化（EMT）的现象。这可能会影响细胞运动和癌细胞侵袭性。LOX和LOXL2受缺氧调节，缺氧是癌症治疗失败的一个主要因素。在此，我们讨论LOX家族的分子生物学及其在肿瘤生物学中的作用。
