title: Perlecan signaling: helping hedgehog stimulate prostate cancer growth.
abstract: Perlecan, an extracellular matrix proteoglycan, regulates signaling by a variety of growth factors through protein-protein and protein-carbohydrate interactions. Recent evidence demonstrates that Perlecan modulates sonic hedgehog signaling during both development and neoplasia, in particular in prostate cancer. Perlecan directly binds to sonic hedgehog and is required for its signaling. Increased sonic hedgehog signaling due to Perlecan in aggressive and metastatic prostate cancer cells can be attributed to increased Perlecan expression or changes in Perlecan glycan structure. Additional co-localization studies suggest that other tumor types may also have a Perlecan-modulated hedgehog signaling pathway. Inhibitors of Perlecan function at either the protein or glycan level would be ideal drug candidates for anti-cancer therapies.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, MS 2128, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843-2128, United States. sumad@tamu.edu
authors.forename: Sumana
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Datta
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Pierce
authors.forename: Milton W
authors.initials: MW
authors.lastname: Datta
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D053823:Hedgehog Proteins; D019812:Heparan Sulfate Proteoglycans / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008954:Models, Biological; D015394:Molecular Structure; D011471:Prostatic Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology; D015398:Signal Transduction / Q000502:physiology*; D015534:Trans-Activators / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D053823:Hedgehog Proteins; D019812:Heparan Sulfate Proteoglycans; C509239:SHH protein, human; D015534:Trans-Activators; C071927:perlecan