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Versican in the Tumor Microenvironment.
Athanasios Papadas1,2, Fotis Asimakopoulos3
1Department of Medicine, Division of Blood and Marrow Transplantation, University of California San Diego (UCSD), Moores Cancer Center, La Jolla, CA, USA. apapadas@ucsd.edu.
Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology
|August 27, 2020
Summary
Versican, an extracellular matrix proteoglycan, plays key roles in development, inflammation, and cancer. Its dysregulation is linked to poor outcomes, making it a promising target for therapies and biomarkers.
Area of Science:
- Biochemistry
- Cell Biology
- Oncology
Background:
- Versican is an extracellular matrix proteoglycan involved in embryonic development, adult inflammation, and cancer.
- It influences cardiovascular morphogenesis, neural crest migration, and skeletal development.
- In adults, versican amplifies inflammation and regulates immune cell activity.
Purpose of the Study:
- To review the multifaceted roles of versican in biological and cellular processes.
- To explore versican's involvement in cancer hallmarks and immune surveillance.
- To discuss the potential of versican and its fragments as therapeutic targets and biomarkers.
Main Methods:
- Literature review and synthesis of existing research on versican.
- Analysis of versican's functions in embryogenesis, inflammation, and tumorigenesis.
- Examination of versican's contribution to cancer progression and immune evasion.
Main Results:
- Versican is crucial for embryonic development and adult inflammatory responses.
- Elevated versican expression in tumors correlates with poor patient prognosis.
- Versican contributes to cancer hallmarks including proliferation, angiogenesis, invasion, and metastasis.
- Versican fragments (matrikines) also possess bioactive functions.
Conclusions:
- Versican is a significant contributor to both normal physiological processes and pathological conditions like cancer.
- Versican and its derived matrikines represent potential therapeutic targets for inflammatory and malignant diseases.
- Versican holds promise for the development of predictive and prognostic biomarkers.
Keywords:
ADAMTSBiomarkersDendritic cellsImmunotherapyInflammationMacrophagesMetastasisMyeloid regulatory cellsProteoglycansTumor matrixTumor microenvironmentTumor progressionVersicanVersican proteolysisVersikineMore Related Videos
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