由于癌瘤发生的部位不同，性质各异，肿瘤内部的分子活动也难以探明，癌症的早期诊断一直是医学难题。日本研究人员发现，一种蛋白质有可能充当早期发现癌瘤的“信号”。
日本九州大学医院的高桥淳等研究人员发现，在人体不同部位产生的癌瘤细胞内都含有一种名为“FEAT”的肿瘤蛋白质，这种蛋白质能加剧细胞的癌变。对于健康人而言，这种蛋白质仅在睾丸、大脑、肝组织中少量存在，几乎无法检测出来，而在癌症患者体内，这种蛋白质会异常增加。
虽然此前研究人员曾在部分肿瘤中发现过这种蛋白质，但是高桥淳等人在对170名肺癌、大肠癌和前列腺癌等7类癌症患者进行检查时，首次发现这种蛋白质异常增加的普遍现象。他们随后确认，在10种以上的癌细胞中都含有这种蛋白质。
为验证这一发现，研究人员培育出一种转基因实验鼠，其胸腺、脾脏、肝和肺都能产生大量这种蛋白质。结果发现，在40只这样的实验鼠中，有19只随后患上了恶性淋巴瘤，14只患上肝癌。
研究人员在新创刊的英国学术刊物《科学报告》上发表文章说，在健康机体内，衰老无用的细胞会正常死亡，但“FEAT”肿瘤蛋白质能使它们免于死亡，导致癌变。“FEAT”及类似的肿瘤蛋白质可能成为检测癌瘤的“信号”，有利于早期发现和防治多种癌症。（生物谷Bioon.com）
生物谷推荐原文出处：
Scientific Reports DOI:10.1038/srep00015
A novel potent tumour promoter aberrantly overexpressed in most human cancers
Atsushi Takahashi; Hisashi Tokita; Kenzo Takahashi; Tomoharu Takeoka; Kosho Murayama; Daihachiro Tomotsune; Miki Ohira; Akihiro Iwamatsu; Kazuaki Ohara; Kazufumi Yazaki; Tadayuki Koda; Akira Nakagawara; Kenzaburo Tani
The complexity and heterogeneity of tumours have hindered efforts to identify commonalities among different cancers. Furthermore, because we have limited information on the prevalence and nature of ubiquitous molecular events that occur in neoplasms, it is unfeasible to implement molecular-targeted cancer screening and prevention. Here, we found that the FEAT protein is overexpressed in most human cancers, but weakly expressed in normal tissues including the testis, brain, and liver. Transgenic mice that ectopically expressed FEAT in the thymus, spleen, liver, and lung spontaneously developed invasive malignant lymphoma (48%, 19/40) and lung-metastasizing liver cancer (hepatocellular carcinoma) (35%, 14/40) that models human hepatocarcinogenesis, indicating the FEAT protein potently drives tumorigenesis in vivo. Gene expression profiling suggested that FEAT drives receptor tyrosine kinase and hedgehog signalling pathways. These findings demonstrate that integrated efforts to identify FEAT-like ubiquitous oncoproteins are useful and may provide promising approaches for cost-effective cancer screening and prevention.
