Roles of neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin (NGAL) in human cancer

ECU Author/Contributor (non-ECU co-authors, if there are any, appear on document)

Saverio Candido (Creator)

Alessia Catania (Creator)

Massimo Libra (Creator)

Roberta Maestro (Creator)

Francesca Maira (Creator)

James A. McCubrey (Creator)

Jerry Polesel (Creator)

Santo S. Signorelli (Creator)

Institution

East Carolina University (ECU )

Web Site: http://www.ecu.edu/lib/

Abstract: Extracted text; Cancer remains one of the major cause of death in the Western world. Although, it has been demonstrated that new therapies can improve the outcome of cancer patients, still many patients relapse after treatment. Therefore, there is a need to identify novel factors involved in cancer development and/or progression. Recently, neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin (NGAL) has been suggested as a key player in different cancer types. Its oncogenic effect may be related to the complex NGAL/MMP-9. In the present study, NGAL was analyzed at both transcript and protein levels in different cancer types by analysing 38 public available microarray datasets and the Human Protein Atlas tool. NGAL transcripts were significantly higher in the majority of solid tumors compared to the relative normal tissues for every dataset analyzed. Furthermore, concordance of NGAL at both mRNA and protein levels was observed for 6 cancer types including bladder, colorectal, liver, lung, ovarian, and pancreatic. All metastatic tumors showed a decrease of NGAL expression when compared to matched primary lesions. According to these results, NGAL is a candidate marker for tumor growth in a fraction of solid tumors. Further investigations are required to elucidate the function of NGAL in tumor development and metastatic processes.

Additional Information

Publication

Other

Oncotarget; 5:6 p. 1576-1594

Language: English

Date: 2014

Keywords

Lipocalin 2, NGAL, LCN2, prognostic factor, biomarker, mRNA expression, protein expression, metastasis, cancer

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