Current insights into the association of Nestin with tumor angiogenesis.

Tumor angiogenesis is regarded as a hallmark of cancer and provides an important target for therapy. Nestin is an intermediate filament protein (IF) originally recognized as a neural stem cell marker. Development and progression of cancer requires sustained angiogenesis, dependent on the proliferation and migration of endothelial cells which seem to be better portrayed by nestin expression in various malignancies such as central nervous system, gastro-intestinal cancers, malignant melanoma, lung, prostate or breast cancer. The purpose of the present review was to emphasize the insights into nestin expression in relation to tumor angiogenesis in different types of cancer. Current evidence suggests that nestin positivity in tumor cells reflects stem-like properties of those cells. Whether or not expressed in both tumor and endothelial cells, nestin overexpression might reflect the extent of angiogenesis and function as a molecular anti-angiogenic target for cancer.