Markowska Anna, Antoszczak Michał, Markowska Janina, Huczyński Adam
Department of Perinatology and Women's Health, Poznań University of Medical Sciences, 60-535 Poznań, Poland.
Department of Medical Chemistry, Faculty of Chemistry, Adam Mickiewicz University, 61-614 Poznań, Poland.
Biomedicines. 2023 Jan 21;11(2):304. doi: 10.3390/biomedicines11020304.
Hyaluronic acid (HA) is a significant glycosaminoglycan component of the extracellular matrix, playing an essential role in cell localization and proliferation. However, high levels of HA may also correlate with multidrug resistance of tumor cells, an increased tendency to metastasize, or cancer progression, and thus represent a very unfavorable prognosis for cancer patients. The purpose of this review article is to summarize the results of studies describing the relationship between HA, the main ligand of the CD44 receptor, or other components of the HA signaling pathway. In addition, we review the course of selected female malignancies, i.e., breast, cervical, endometrial, and ovarian cancer, with the main focus on the mechanisms oriented to CD44. We also analyze reports on the beneficial use of HA-containing preparations in adjuvant therapy among patients with these types of cancer. Data from the literature suggest that HA and its family members may be critical prognostic biomarkers of selected malignancies among women. Nevertheless, the results of the available studies are inconclusive, and the actual clinical significance of HA expression analysis is still quite enigmatic. In our opinion, the HA-CD44 signaling pathway should be an attractive target for future research related to targeted therapy in gynecological cancers.
透明质酸（HA）是细胞外基质的一种重要糖胺聚糖成分，在细胞定位和增殖中起着至关重要的作用。然而，高水平的HA也可能与肿瘤细胞的多药耐药性、转移倾向增加或癌症进展相关，因此对癌症患者来说代表着非常不利的预后。这篇综述文章的目的是总结描述HA、CD44受体的主要配体或HA信号通路其他成分之间关系的研究结果。此外，我们回顾了某些女性恶性肿瘤的病程，即乳腺癌、宫颈癌、子宫内膜癌和卵巢癌，主要关注针对CD44的机制。我们还分析了关于含HA制剂在这些类型癌症患者辅助治疗中有益应用的报告。文献数据表明，HA及其家族成员可能是女性某些恶性肿瘤的关键预后生物标志物。然而，现有研究结果尚无定论，HA表达分析的实际临床意义仍然相当神秘。我们认为，HA-CD44信号通路应该是未来妇科癌症靶向治疗相关研究的一个有吸引力的靶点。
