CD44: A key player in breast cancer.

CD44 is a principal transmembrane hyluronate receptor, which acts as a hook between Extracellular Matrix and the cytoskeleton. CD44 is up regulated in breast cancer, which in turn helps in tumor progression and metastasis. There has been a lot of attention given to CD44 in recent years because of the discovery, CD44+/CD24- lineage marks breast cancer stem cells. Recent clinical and experimental findings show that CD44 is involved in the tumor associated proliferation, invasion, migration, and in many pathways involved in maintaining cancer cells which inturn are correlated with patient's survival. All these findings make CD44 as a potential target for breast cancer treatment. The methods of literature search for this article include Pubmed, BMC cancer and other printed journal article.

Hyaluronan synthase-2-specific antisense oligonucleotides inhibit the formation of extracellular coat in human peritoneal mesothclial cells / 中华肾脏病杂志

Objective To define which hyaluronan synthase (HAS), of three hyaluronan synthesizing enzymes HAS-1, HAS-2, and HAS-3, is primarily responsible for hyaluronan synthesis and extracellular matrix/extracellular coat formation in human peritoneal mesothelial cells (HPMCs) . Methods As a prerequisite study, the expression of each HAS mRNA in cultured HPMCs was measured by semiquantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Only the expression of HAS-2 and HAS-3 mRNA could be detected. The level of HAS-2 mRNA expression was about 10 fold higher than that of HAS-3. HAS-2 specific antisense oligonucleotide was then transfected into cultured HPMCs by lipofectamine. After 0, 8, 24, and 48 hours, the expression of HAS-2 mRNA was detected by RT-PCR and the extracellular coat was measured by particle exclusion test. Results 8 hours and 24 hours after transfection, the expression of HAS-2 mRNA in HPMCs decreased by 58% and 89% respectively; 48 hours after transfection, the expression of HAS-2 mRNA in HPMCs partially restored to 25% of the normal level. Correspondingly, 24 hours after transfection, the extracellular matrix/extracellular coat in HPMCs almost completely disappeared. However, as control, sense and reverse oligonucleotides showed no effect. Conclusion HAS-2 plays a leading role in HPMCs hyaluronan synthesis and the formation of extracellualr matrix/extracellular coat.