Anterior gradient 2: a novel sensitive tumor marker for metastatic oral cancer

Cancer Lett. 2013 Oct 10;339(2):270-8. doi: 10.1016/j.canlet.2013.06.025. Epub 2013 Jul 5.

Abstract

The prevention of oral squamous cell carcinoma metastasis to improve overall patient survival has provided the rationale for biomarker development. We used the Transwell invasion assay to isolate a highly metastatic subpopulation, HSC-3-5 cells, with almost the same genetic background as HSC-3 cells but a higher metastatic capacity accompanied by cytoskeletal rearrangements and mesenchymal transformation. HSC-3-5 cells also showed tumorigenic and metastatic characteristics in vivo. In addition, Anterior gradient 2 (agr2), a pro-oncogenic signaling intermediate, was identified from gene expression profiling, and overexpression of AGR2 showed a positive correlation with oral tumor metastasis. Taken together, our data suggest that AGR2 may be a novel sensitive biomarker for metastatic oral cancer.

Keywords: Anterior gradient 2; HSC-3; Metastasis; Oral squamous cell carcinoma.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Biomarkers, Tumor / genetics*
  • Cell Line, Tumor
  • Cell Movement / genetics
  • Cell Transformation, Neoplastic / genetics
  • Cell Transformation, Neoplastic / metabolism
  • Disease Models, Animal
  • Gene Expression
  • Gene Expression Profiling
  • Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic
  • Humans
  • Mice
  • Mouth Neoplasms / genetics*
  • Mouth Neoplasms / metabolism
  • Mouth Neoplasms / pathology*
  • Mucoproteins
  • Neoplasm Metastasis
  • Neoplasm Staging
  • Oncogene Proteins
  • Proteins / genetics*
  • Proteins / metabolism
  • Transplantation, Heterologous

Substances

  • AGR2 protein, human
  • Biomarkers, Tumor
  • Mucoproteins
  • Oncogene Proteins
  • Proteins