Laboratory for Bone Metabolism, Key Laboratory for Space Biosciences and Biotechnology, School of Life Sciences, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi'an 710072, China.
Research Center for Special Medicine and Health Systems Engineering, School of Life Sciences, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi'an 710072, China.
Int J Mol Sci. 2018 Mar 24;19(4):974. doi: 10.3390/ijms19040974.
Cancer is a highly lethal disease that is characterized by aberrant cell proliferation, migration, and adhesion, which are closely related to the dynamic changes of cytoskeletons and cytoskeletal-adhesion. These will further result in cell invasion and metastasis. Plakins are a family of giant cytolinkers that connect cytoskeletal elements with each other and to junctional complexes. With various isoforms composed of different domain structures, mammalian plakins are broadly expressed in numerous tissues. They play critical roles in many cellular processes, including cell proliferation, migration, adhesion, and signaling transduction. As these cellular processes are key steps in cancer development, mammalian plakins have in recent years attracted more and more attention for their potential roles in cancer. Current evidence shows the importance of mammalian plakins in various human cancers and demonstrates mammalian plakins as potential biomarkers for cancer. Here, we introduce the basic characteristics of mammalian plakins, review the recent advances in understanding their biological functions, and highlight their roles in human cancers, based on studies performed by us and others. This will provide researchers with a comprehensive understanding of mammalian plakins, new insights into the development of cancer, and novel targets for cancer diagnosis and therapy.
癌症是一种高度致命的疾病，其特征是异常的细胞增殖、迁移和黏附，这与细胞骨架和细胞骨架黏附的动态变化密切相关。这些变化将进一步导致细胞侵袭和转移。斑联蛋白是一类连接细胞骨架成分和连接复合体的巨大细胞连接蛋白。哺乳动物斑联蛋白由不同结构域组成的多种异构体广泛表达于许多组织中。它们在许多细胞过程中发挥关键作用，包括细胞增殖、迁移、黏附和信号转导。由于这些细胞过程是癌症发展的关键步骤，近年来哺乳动物斑联蛋白因其在癌症中的潜在作用而引起了越来越多的关注。目前的证据表明哺乳动物斑联蛋白在各种人类癌症中的重要性，并证明哺乳动物斑联蛋白是癌症的潜在生物标志物。在这里，我们介绍了哺乳动物斑联蛋白的基本特征，综述了近年来对其生物学功能的理解进展，并根据我们和其他人的研究，强调了它们在人类癌症中的作用。这将为研究人员提供对哺乳动物斑联蛋白的全面了解，为癌症的发展提供新的见解，并为癌症的诊断和治疗提供新的靶点。
