Chapter category: Cancer Metastasis

Maspin, a Potential Prognostic Marker for Human Cancers

This chapter appears in the following book:

Maspin

Edited by: Mary J.C. Hendrix
ISBN: 1-58706-097-3
» Get more information about this book at landesbioscience.com «

Chapter authors:
Mickey C-T. Hu, Weiya Xia and Mien-Chie Hung

[+] view image

Maspin (mammary serine protease inhibitor) is a 42 kDa protein that shares significant sequence homology with several members of the serpin (serine protease inhibitor) family, including plasminogen activation inhibitors 1 and 2 (PAI-1 and PAI-2), a1-antitrypsin, and non-inhibitor proteins such as ovalbumin.^1,2 It is expressed in normal human mammary epithelial cells² and is associated with secretory vesicles and cellular surface.³ It has been shown that maspin associates with tumor suppression activity.^1,4 transfecting human mammary carcinoma cells with the maspin gene reduces tumor induction and metastasis in nude mice and in vitro invasion of basement membrane.² in primary breast cancer cells, maspin is downregulated and its expression is inhibited in metastasis. It has been suggested that this decrease in maspin expression may be due to the absence of transactivation through the Ets and Ap1 elements in the promoter of maspin gene.⁵ The expression of maspin can also be repressed by a negative hormonal response element in the prostate cells.⁶ Therefore, the level of maspin expression in cancer cells may be primarily regulated by a transcriptional control. Interestingly, it has been shown recently that p53 directly upregulates the expression of maspin in breast and prostate cancer cell lines.⁷Furthermore, DNA-damaging agents and cytotoxic drugs induce endogenous maspin expression in cancer cells containing wild-type p53, but not in cells containing mutant p53.⁷ Since expression of maspin inhibits the invasiveness and motility of breast and prostate tumor cells, these results suggest that maspin and p53 may cooperate in the negative regulation of tumor cell invasion and metastasis. However, no clinical data have been reported regarding possible association between the expression level of maspin and the survival rate. It is not clear whether maspin expression could provide any prognostic value for cancer patients.

» Access chapter for $19

Additional chapters from this book:

Maspin, a Potential Prognostic Marker for Human Cancers

Mickey C-T. Hu, Weiya Xia and Mien-Chie Hung

Maspin (mammary serine protease inhibitor) is a 42 kDa protein that shares significant sequence homology with several members of the serpin (serine prot...

The Role of Maspin in Human Placental Development

Anuja Dokras, Lynn M.G. Gardner, Dawn A. Kirschmann, Elisabeth A. Seftor and Mary J.C. Hendrix

The human placenta is hemochorial and displays highly regulated invasive activity and exponential growth potential. The stem cell cytotrophoblasts undergo differentiation along two...

The Role of Maspin in Tumor Progression and Normal Development

Ming Zhang

Serine protease inhibitors (serpins) are comprised of a large family of molecules that play a variety of physiological roles in vivo.^1-3 Not all molecules that in...

Maspin Suppresses Breast Cancer Cell Invasiveness by Modulating Integrin Expression and Function

Richard E.B. Seftor, Valerie A. Odero, Elisabeth A. Seftor and Mary J.C. Hendrix

Although the novel tumor suppressor gene maspin (mammary serine protease inhibitor) was originally isolated from normal mammary epithelium by subtractive hybridization and d...

Genetic and Epigenetic Regulation of Maspin Gene Expression in Normal and Tumor Tissue

Frederick E. Domann and Bernard W. Futscher

Maspin, a tumor suppressor gene, encodes a protein that has been shown to restrict breast cancer cell motility, invasion, and metastasis. Expression of the maspin gene is commonly ...

Maspin and Pericellular Plasminogen Activation in Cell-Matrix Interaction

Shijie Sheng, Hector Biliran Jr. and Richard McGowen

Maspin may offer a unique opportunity to block tumor invasion and metastasis. Maspin expression correlates with normality, and pre-malignant and/or less invasive lesions in breast,...

Maspin and Myoepithelial Cells

Sanford H. Barsky, Paul Kedeshian and Mary L. Alpaugh

Host cellular paracrine regulation of tumor progression is an important determinant of tumor growth, invasion and metastasis but one cell which has largely been ignored in this reg...

Maspin: Functional Insights from a Structural Perspective

Philip A. Pemberton

Since the seminal paper by Zou et al¹ identifying the existence of the novel tumor suppressor maspin (mammary serpin), research efforts have largely focused on the mecha...

Maspin in the Sager Laboratory

Ming Zhang, Shijie Sheng and Arthur B. Pardee

Discovery of a disease-related gene marks only the beginning to a series of difficult investigations. In order to establish the functional role of the newly discovered gene, one...

Ruth Sager, Geneticist

Arthur B. Pardee

Ruth Sager named her favorite gene Maspin, mammary serpin protease inhibitor. Expression of this gene is lost in advanced breast cancers and inhibits tumor invasion and metastas...

Chapter category: Cancer Metastasis

Maspin, a Potential Prognostic Marker for Human Cancers

Additional chapters from this book:

SIGN IN