Expression of the matrix Gla protein in urogenital malignancies

✍ Scribed by Eleni N. Levedakou; Torsten G. Strohmeyer; Peter J. Effert; Edison T. Liu

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1992
• Tongue: French
• Weight: 614 KB
• Volume: 52
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0020-7136
• DOI: 10.1002/ijc.2910520406

✦ Synopsis

Matrix Gla protein (MGP), is a vitamin-K-dependent protein which is synthesized in a variety of tissues such as lung, heart, kidney, cartilage and bone. The function of MGP in these tissues is unclear. We have previously reported elevated MGP mRNA levels in a breast-cancer cell line, 600PE1, as compared to normal breast epithelium. Here we describe high MGP expression in primary renal-cell carcinomas, prostate carcinomas and testicular germ-cell tumors, as determined by Northern analysis. MGP was over-expressed in 21 out of 28 patients with renal-cell carcinoma, and in I 6 out of 29 patients with testicular germ-cell tumors, as compared to matched normal tissues. For the renal-cell carcinomas, a statistically significant inverse correlation was observed between the level of MGP expression and tumor size, lymph-node metastasis and tumor grade. MGP was also highly expressed in 13 primary prostatic carcinomas as compared to prostate cell lines derived from metastatic tumors, and to lymph-node metastasis. Our findings indicate that the loss of MGP expression may be associated with tumor progression and metastasis.