Nuzzo Pier Vitale, Buzzatti Giulia, Ricci Francesco, Rubagotti Alessandra, Argellati Francesca, Zinoli Linda, Boccardo Francesco
Academic Unit of Medical Oncology (Medical Oncology B), University of Genoa, School of Medicine, Genoa, Italy; Department of Internal Medicine, University of Genoa, School of Medicine, Genoa, Italy.
Academic Unit of Medical Oncology (Medical Oncology B), University of Genoa, School of Medicine, Genoa, Italy; IRCCS San Martino University Hospital - IST National Cancer Research Institute, Genoa, Italy.
Clin Genitourin Cancer. 2014 Oct;12(5):301-11. doi: 10.1016/j.clgc.2014.02.005. Epub 2014 Feb 21.
Many of the cellular abnormalities present in solid tumors are structural in nature and involve the proteins of the extracellular matrix (ECM). Periostin is a protein produced and secreted by the fibroblasts as a component of the ECM where it is involved in regulating intercellular adhesion. The expression of periostin has an important physiological role during embryogenesis and growth, namely at the level of bone, dental, and cardiac tissues. Many studies indicate that periostin plays an important role for tumor progression in various types of cancer, such as colon, lung, head and neck, breast, ovarian, and prostate. To the best of our knowledge, a limited number of studies have investigated periostin expression in urogenital cancer, such as prostate, bladder, penile, and renal cancer, and no studies were performed in testis cancer. In this review article, we summarize the most recent knowledge of periostin, its genetic and protein structure, and the role of the different isoforms identified and sequenced so far. In particular, we focus our attention on the role of this protein in genitourinary tumors, trying to emphasize the role not only as a possible prognostic marker, but also as a possible target for the development of future anticancer therapies.
实体瘤中存在的许多细胞异常本质上是结构性的，并且涉及细胞外基质（ECM）的蛋白质。骨膜蛋白是成纤维细胞产生和分泌的一种蛋白质，作为ECM的一个组成部分，参与调节细胞间粘附。骨膜蛋白的表达在胚胎发育和生长过程中，即在骨骼、牙齿和心脏组织水平上具有重要的生理作用。许多研究表明，骨膜蛋白在各种类型的癌症（如结肠癌、肺癌、头颈癌、乳腺癌、卵巢癌和前列腺癌）的肿瘤进展中起重要作用。据我们所知，仅有有限数量的研究调查了骨膜蛋白在泌尿生殖系统癌症（如前列腺癌、膀胱癌、阴茎癌和肾癌）中的表达，而睾丸癌方面尚未开展相关研究。在这篇综述文章中，我们总结了关于骨膜蛋白的最新知识、其基因和蛋白质结构，以及迄今已鉴定和测序的不同亚型的作用。特别是，我们将注意力集中在这种蛋白质在泌尿生殖系统肿瘤中的作用上，不仅试图强调其作为一种可能的预后标志物的作用，还强调其作为未来抗癌治疗开发的可能靶点的作用。
