Endocan: A new marker for cancer and a target for cancer therapy

Endocan, previously known as endothelial cell-specific molecule-1 (ESM-1), was cloned from the human umbilical vein endothelial cell cDNA library. Endocan is a novel ESM, and a 50 kDa soluble proteoglycan. Endocan is secreted into the blood as the soluble proteoglycan, which is the form in the presence of chondroitin sulfate. In normal tissues, chondroitin sulfate/dermatan sulfate proteoglycan is expressed by endothelial cells (such as lung and kidney) and is overexpressed in several carcinoma endothelial cells. There are studies that identified high endocan expression in lung cancer, uterine cancer, kidney cancer, liver cancer, brain glioblastoma, breast cancer and other tumors. Tumor prognosis, metastasis and angiogenesis were shown to be associated with endocan expression. The majority of investigators believe that endocan regulates the tumor by tumor-associated inflammation, angiogenesis, lymphangiogenesis, the tumor cells themselves and other aspects. Endocan may be a new target for cancer therapy.