Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: EC:2.7.10.1 (ERK)
 95,504 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

mRNA expression of stromelysin-3 (ST3) and 72K type IV collagenase (cIVase) in 4 human breast cancer cell lines and 55 resected breast tumors were examined using Northern blot analysis. In 4 cell lines ST3 was not expressed at all, while cIVase gene expression was detected in 3 of them. The ST3 expression was found more specifically in malignant tumors (39/40, 97.5%) than in benign ones (4/15, 26.7%), although cIVase was expressed in all tumor specimens. The quantitative analysis showed that ST3 expression in malignancies was significantly greater than that in benign tumors (P = 0.0007), while cIVase expression was not (P = 0.1381). ST3 gene expression was also closely related to the presence of lymph node metastasis (P = 0.047), while cIVase was not (P = 0.1091). These results suggest, therefore, that ST3 is expressed more specifically by stromal cells surrounding cancer cells than cIVase. Since ST3 mRNA expression was independent of the EGFR, ER and erbB2 protein expression, ST3 may be a new potent prognostic guide for breast carcinomas, which can detect highly malignant subpopulations.
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PMID:Stromelysin-3 mRNA expression and malignancy: comparison with clinicopathological features and type IV collagenase mRNA expression in breast tumors. 829 52

Molecular markers can improve staging and predict aggressive clinical behavior in esophageal cancer, thus helping to define appropriate therapeutic protocols and to identify patients who will benefit from surgery. We therefore characterized, by Northern blot and/or immunohistochemistry, the relative expression of three effectors involved in the invasion, angiogenesis, and dissemination of tumor cells in esophageal cancer versus nontumoral mucosae: (a) stromelysin-3 (ST3), a member of the metalloproteinase family; (b) basement membrane 40/secreted protein acidic and rich in cysteine (BM-40/SPARC), an extracellular matrix-associated protein involved in angiogenesis; and (c) the hepatocyte growth factor receptor MET, which triggers the scattering of epithelial cells. Results were analyzed in relation to clinicopathological parameters (cpTNE) including tumor size (T), lymph node status (N), periesophageal tissue invasion (E), disease recurrence, and overall survival. The ST3, BM-40/SPARC, and MET genes were found to be overexpressed in tumor samples compared to control mucosa. BM-40/SPARC and MET mRNA levels were not linked to any one of the cpTNE, indicating that this overexpression occurs at an early stage of neoplastic progression. In contrast, ST3 expression, identified by immunohistochemistry in fibroblastic cells surrounding neoplastic islets, correlated with tumor size and periesophageal tissue invasion. Of the 36 patients studied, those with high ST3 levels had shorter disease-free survival than those with low levels, but there was no relationship between the cpTNE and disease recurrence or survival. Our study demonstrates that ST3, BM-40/SPARC, and MET are involved in different steps of esophageal carcinogenesis and that ST3 overexpression is a marker of aggressive clinical behavior. We conclude that in esophageal cancer, ST3 might help to assess survival and the risk of recurrence after surgical resection.
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PMID:Overexpression of stromelysin-3, BM-40/SPARC, and MET genes in human esophageal carcinoma: implications for prognosis. 962 53