Tamura A, Matsubara O, Hirokawa K, Aoki N
First Department of Internal Medicine, Tokyo Medical and Dental University, Japan.
Am J Pathol. 1993 Jan;142(1):79-85.
Thrombomodulin (TM), which usually exists in vascular endothelial cells and exerts an anticoagulant activity, was detected by Western blot analyses and immunocytochemical staining using three anti-TM monoclonal antibodies in cultured cell lines derived from a squamous cell carcinoma and an adenocarcinoma of the lung, but was not detected in a cell line derived from a small cell carcinoma. Functional assays indicated that TM detected in these cells was functionally active. The presence of TM in 22 specimens of surgically removed lung cancer tissue was also examined by an immunohistochemical method. TM was present along the cell membranes in 4 (36%) of 11 squamous cell carcinomas examined, but was not detected in 10 adenocarcinomas and 1 large cell carcinoma examined. Because TM is identical to fetomodulin, which modulates embryogenesis, the authors have concluded that TM is an oncodevelopmental antigen. The authors have also suggested that functionally active TM on lung cancer cells may modulate cancer cell behaviors in such ways as exhibiting anticoagulant activity.
血栓调节蛋白（TM）通常存在于血管内皮细胞中并发挥抗凝活性。在源自肺鳞状细胞癌和腺癌的培养细胞系中，使用三种抗TM单克隆抗体通过蛋白质免疫印迹分析和免疫细胞化学染色检测到了TM，但在源自小细胞癌的细胞系中未检测到。功能分析表明，在这些细胞中检测到的TM具有功能活性。还通过免疫组织化学方法检查了22个手术切除的肺癌组织标本中TM的存在情况。在所检查的11例鳞状细胞癌中，有4例（36%）的细胞膜上存在TM，但在检查的10例腺癌和1例大细胞癌中未检测到。由于TM与调节胚胎发育的胎儿调节蛋白相同，作者得出结论，TM是一种肿瘤发育抗原。作者还提出，肺癌细胞上具有功能活性的TM可能通过表现出抗凝活性等方式调节癌细胞行为。
