title: Clinical impacts of mesothelin expression in gastrointestinal carcinomas.
abstract: Mesothelin, C-ERC/mesothelin is a 40-kDa cell surface glycoprotein that is normally present on normal mesothelial cells lining the pleura, peritoneum, and pericardium. Moreover, mesothelin has been shown to be overexpressed in several human cancers, including virtually all mesothelioma and pancreatic cancer, approximately 70% of ovarian cancer and extra bile duct cancer, and 50% of lung adenocarcinomas and gastric cancer. The full-length human mesothelin gene encodes the primary product, a 71-kDa precursor protein. The 71-kDa mesothelin precursor is cleaved into two products, 40-kDa C-terminal fragment that remains membrane-bound via glycosylphosphatidylinositol anchor, and a 31-kDa N-terminal fragment, megakaryocyte potentiating factor, which is secreted into the blood. The biological functions of mesothelin remain largely unknown. However, results of recent studies have suggested that the mesothelin may play a role of cell proliferation and migration. In pancreatic cancer, mesothelin expression was immunohistochemically observed in all cases, but absent in normal pancreas and in chronic pancreatitis. Furthermore, the expression of mesothelin was correlated with an poorer patient outcome in several human cancers. The limited mesothelin expression in normal tissues and high expression in many cancers makes it an attractive candidate for cancer therapy. The present review discusses the expression and function of mesothelin in cancer cells and the utility of mesothelin as a target of cancer therapy.
authors.affiliation: Takahiro Einama, Futoshi Kawamata, Hirofumi Kamachi, Shigenori Homma, Fumihiko Matsuzawa, Tatsuzo Mizukami, Yuji Konishi, Munenori Tahara, Toshiya Kamiyama, Akinobu Taketomi, Department of General Surgery, Hokkaido University Graduate School of Medicine, Sapporo, Hokkaido 060-8638, Japan.
authors.forename: Takahiro
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Einama
authors.affiliation: Takahiro Einama, Futoshi Kawamata, Hirofumi Kamachi, Shigenori Homma, Fumihiko Matsuzawa, Tatsuzo Mizukami, Yuji Konishi, Munenori Tahara, Toshiya Kamiyama, Akinobu Taketomi, Department of General Surgery, Hokkaido University Graduate School of Medicine, Sapporo, Hokkaido 060-8638, Japan.
authors.forename: Futoshi
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Kawamata
authors.affiliation: Takahiro Einama, Futoshi Kawamata, Hirofumi Kamachi, Shigenori Homma, Fumihiko Matsuzawa, Tatsuzo Mizukami, Yuji Konishi, Munenori Tahara, Toshiya Kamiyama, Akinobu Taketomi, Department of General Surgery, Hokkaido University Graduate School of Medicine, Sapporo, Hokkaido 060-8638, Japan.
authors.forename: Hirofumi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kamachi
authors.affiliation: Takahiro Einama, Futoshi Kawamata, Hirofumi Kamachi, Shigenori Homma, Fumihiko Matsuzawa, Tatsuzo Mizukami, Yuji Konishi, Munenori Tahara, Toshiya Kamiyama, Akinobu Taketomi, Department of General Surgery, Hokkaido University Graduate School of Medicine, Sapporo, Hokkaido 060-8638, Japan.
authors.forename: Hiroshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Nishihara
authors.affiliation: Takahiro Einama, Futoshi Kawamata, Hirofumi Kamachi, Shigenori Homma, Fumihiko Matsuzawa, Tatsuzo Mizukami, Yuji Konishi, Munenori Tahara, Toshiya Kamiyama, Akinobu Taketomi, Department of General Surgery, Hokkaido University Graduate School of Medicine, Sapporo, Hokkaido 060-8638, Japan.
authors.forename: Shigenori
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Homma
authors.affiliation: Takahiro Einama, Futoshi Kawamata, Hirofumi Kamachi, Shigenori Homma, Fumihiko Matsuzawa, Tatsuzo Mizukami, Yuji Konishi, Munenori Tahara, Toshiya Kamiyama, Akinobu Taketomi, Department of General Surgery, Hokkaido University Graduate School of Medicine, Sapporo, Hokkaido 060-8638, Japan.
authors.forename: Fumihiko
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Matsuzawa
authors.affiliation: Takahiro Einama, Futoshi Kawamata, Hirofumi Kamachi, Shigenori Homma, Fumihiko Matsuzawa, Tatsuzo Mizukami, Yuji Konishi, Munenori Tahara, Toshiya Kamiyama, Akinobu Taketomi, Department of General Surgery, Hokkaido University Graduate School of Medicine, Sapporo, Hokkaido 060-8638, Japan.
authors.forename: Tatsuzo
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Mizukami
authors.affiliation: Takahiro Einama, Futoshi Kawamata, Hirofumi Kamachi, Shigenori Homma, Fumihiko Matsuzawa, Tatsuzo Mizukami, Yuji Konishi, Munenori Tahara, Toshiya Kamiyama, Akinobu Taketomi, Department of General Surgery, Hokkaido University Graduate School of Medicine, Sapporo, Hokkaido 060-8638, Japan.
authors.forename: Yuji
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Konishi
authors.affiliation: Takahiro Einama, Futoshi Kawamata, Hirofumi Kamachi, Shigenori Homma, Fumihiko Matsuzawa, Tatsuzo Mizukami, Yuji Konishi, Munenori Tahara, Toshiya Kamiyama, Akinobu Taketomi, Department of General Surgery, Hokkaido University Graduate School of Medicine, Sapporo, Hokkaido 060-8638, Japan.
authors.forename: Munenori
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tahara
authors.affiliation: Takahiro Einama, Futoshi Kawamata, Hirofumi Kamachi, Shigenori Homma, Fumihiko Matsuzawa, Tatsuzo Mizukami, Yuji Konishi, Munenori Tahara, Toshiya Kamiyama, Akinobu Taketomi, Department of General Surgery, Hokkaido University Graduate School of Medicine, Sapporo, Hokkaido 060-8638, Japan.
authors.forename: Toshiya
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kamiyama
authors.affiliation: Takahiro Einama, Futoshi Kawamata, Hirofumi Kamachi, Shigenori Homma, Fumihiko Matsuzawa, Tatsuzo Mizukami, Yuji Konishi, Munenori Tahara, Toshiya Kamiyama, Akinobu Taketomi, Department of General Surgery, Hokkaido University Graduate School of Medicine, Sapporo, Hokkaido 060-8638, Japan.
authors.forename: Okio
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Hino
authors.affiliation: Takahiro Einama, Futoshi Kawamata, Hirofumi Kamachi, Shigenori Homma, Fumihiko Matsuzawa, Tatsuzo Mizukami, Yuji Konishi, Munenori Tahara, Toshiya Kamiyama, Akinobu Taketomi, Department of General Surgery, Hokkaido University Graduate School of Medicine, Sapporo, Hokkaido 060-8638, Japan.
authors.forename: Akinobu
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Taketomi
authors.affiliation: Takahiro Einama, Futoshi Kawamata, Hirofumi Kamachi, Shigenori Homma, Fumihiko Matsuzawa, Tatsuzo Mizukami, Yuji Konishi, Munenori Tahara, Toshiya Kamiyama, Akinobu Taketomi, Department of General Surgery, Hokkaido University Graduate School of Medicine, Sapporo, Hokkaido 060-8638, Japan.
authors.forename: Satoru
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Todo
keywords: Cancer therapy; Cytoplasmic expression; Luminal membrane expression; Mesothelin; Tumor marker