纳什维尔范德堡大学医学中心的Mary Zutter和同事们已经得到相关数据，这些数据显示蛋白α-2整合素的减少表达可预测肿瘤的远端传播、乳腺癌或前列腺癌患者的降低的存活率。
研究人员首次研究了蛋白α-2-β-1整合素（由α-2整合素蛋白与β-1整合素蛋白复合而成）在癌症引发与进展中的作用，研究中应用乳腺癌进展与转移（扩散）的临床相关的自发的小鼠模型。他们的数据表明，α-2-β-1整合素抑制转移。
为研究这些数据是否有直接的临床应用性，进行了人乳腺癌与前列腺癌的芯片数据库系统分析。分析结果表明，负责产生α-2整合素的基因的表达降低可预测转移与存活降低，也就是暗示α-2整合素表达可作为一个有用的转移潜在性与患者存活的生物标志物。
研究发表在《临床研究杂志》上。（生物谷bioon.com)
doi:10.1172/JCI42328
PMC:
PMID:
The α2β1 integrin is a metastasis suppressor in mouse models and human cancer.
Ramirez NE, Zhang Z, Madamanchi A, Boyd KL, O'Rear LD, Nashabi A, Li Z, Dupont WD, Zijlstra A, Zutter MM.
Abstract Integrins regulate cell-cell and cell-matrix adhesion and thereby play critical roles in tumor progression and metastasis. Although work in preclinical models suggests that β1 integrins may stimulate metastasis of a number of cancers, expression of the β1 subunit alone has not been shown to be a useful prognostic indicator in human cancer patients. Here we have demonstrated that the α2β1 integrin suppresses metastasis in a clinically relevant spontaneous mouse model of breast cancer. These data are consistent with previous studies indicating high expression of α2β1 integrin in normal breast epithelium and loss of α2β1 in poorly differentiated breast cancer. They are also consistent with our systematic analysis of microarray databases of human breast and prostate cancer, which revealed that decreased expression of the gene encoding α2 integrin, but not genes encoding α1, α3, or β1 integrin, was predictive of metastatic dissemination and decreased survival. The predictive value of α2 expression persisted within both good-risk and poor-risk cohorts defined by estrogen receptor and lymph node status. Thus, the α2β1 integrin functionally inhibits breast tumormetastasis, and α2 expression may serve as an important biomarker of metastatic potential and patient survival.
