[TGF-beta signaling pathway in pancreatic cancer cells].
TGF-beta is a multifunctional cytokine which regulates cell growth, extracellular matrix deposition, cell differentiation, and immunosuppression etc. The signal is mainly mediated through Smad pathway to inhibit epithelial cell growth. In 50% of pancreatic cancer, Smad4/DPC4 gene is deleted or mutated, which might cause pancreatic carcinogenesis and be associated with highly invasive and metastatic character of the disease. On the other hand, TGF-beta signal itself has recently been shown to act in favor of cancer cells, especially in the late phase of tumor progression. In Smad4-inactivated pancreatic cancer cells, TGF-beta signal regulates a number of genes involved in tumor suppression and progression. The regulated genes and signaling pathways of TGF-beta signal should be investigated to obtain an effective therapeutic target molecule for pancreatic cancer.
Department of Gastroenterology, Graduate School of Medicine, University of Tokyo.
Hideaki
H
Ijichi
D000818:Animals; D051379:Mice; D010190:Pancreatic Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics*; D015398:Signal Transduction / Q000502:physiology*; D016212:Transforming Growth Factor beta / Q000502:physiology*
D016212:Transforming Growth Factor beta