title: Anti-EGFR function of EFEMP1 in glioma cells and patient prognosis.
abstract: EGFR is one of the key oncogenes subjected to targeted therapy for several cancers, as it is known to be amplified and/or mutated in up to 40% of malignant gliomas. EFEMP1, a fibulin-like extracellular protein, exerts both tumor suppressive and oncogenic effects in various cancers and glioma cell models. Although EFEMP1's anti-cancer activity has most commonly been attributed to its anti-angiogenic effects, we showed for gliomas that EFEMP1's binding to EGFR accounts for its suppression of the intracranial tumorigenicity of glioma cells expressing high levels of EGFR. In gliomas where EFEMP1 expression, and thus the anti-EGFR effect of EFEMP1, was suppressed, heightened levels of EGFR expression were associated with unfavorable patient outcomes in prognostic models. Results from the current study clearly demonstrate the impact that the anti-EGFR function of EFEMP1 has on the expression of EGFR and patient prognosis. A glioma prognostic model also suggests EFEMP1's context-dependent oncogenic function in gliomas expressing low levels of EGFR. Hence the level of EFEMP1 expression may have a predictive value for choosing patients for anti-EGFR therapy.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Chemistry, University of California Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Yuanjie
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.affiliation: Institute of Digestive Disease, Tongji University, Shanghai, China ; National Engineering Center for Biochip at Shanghai, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Hengjun
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Gao
authors.affiliation: Neurological Surgery, University of California Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Christopher
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Vo
authors.affiliation: Neurological Surgery, University of California Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA ; State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China and Collaborative Innovation Center for Cancer Medicine, Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center, Guangzhou, China.
authors.forename: Chao
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Ke
authors.affiliation: Neurological Surgery, University of California Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Francine
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Pan
authors.affiliation: Ziren Research LLC, Irvine, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Liping
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.affiliation: Department of Biostatistics, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Little Rock, AR, USA.
authors.forename: Eric
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Siegel
authors.affiliation: Department of Biostatistics, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, USA.
authors.forename: Kenneth R
authors.initials: KR
authors.lastname: Hess
authors.affiliation: Neurological Surgery, University of California Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Mark E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Linskey
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Chemistry, University of California Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA ; Neurological Surgery, University of California Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Yi-Hong
authors.initials: YH
authors.lastname: Zhou
keywords: EFEMP1; EGFR; glioma; prognosis; tumorigenicity