Join the club for FREE to access the whole archive and other member benefits.

'Rogue' protein assists cancer progression in humans

Inactivating Siglec-XII could lower the risk of cancer, but more research is still needed

01-Apr-2021

Key points from article :

CD33-related Siglecs are found mainly on innate immune cells and are involved in cell signaling.

One Siglec appears to have “gone rogue” in humans, according to Ajit and Nissi Varki, co-researchers of the study.

Siglec-XII, encoded by the gene SIGLEC12, no longer binds sialic acid and seems to be involved in abnormal cell signaling.

Protein plays a role in cancer progression and could help explain higher rates of carcinoma in humans.

Most people have a mutation that inactivates SIGLEC12.

Researchers found Siglec-XII in about 80 percent of carcinoma samples.

Forced production in a human prostate cancer cell line resulted in higher expression of cancer progression–related genes.

Functional SIGLEC12 was associated with poor prognosis in late-stage colorectal cancer patients.

"More evidence is needed to confirm Siglec-XII’s role in cancer progression," - Jun Wang, immunologist at NYU Langone Health.

Research by UC San Diego published in the journal FASEB.

Mentioned in this article:

Click on resource name for more details.

Ajit Varki

Professor of Medicine and Cellular and Molecular Medicine.

FASEB

Scientific journal

Jun Wang

Chinese scientist, founder and CEO of iCarbonX

Nissi Varki

Professor of Pathology at UC San Diego

Topics mentioned on this page:
Longevity Genes, Cancer