Abstract
Members of the L6 family of membrane proteins, a branch of the tetraspanin superfamily, are overexpressed in tumor cells from many types of cancers. However, direct evidence of their oncogenic activity has not been previously shown. In this issue of the JCI, Lee et al. demonstrate that overexpression of the tetraspanin superfamily member TM4SF5 in human hepatocellular carcinoma cells causes cellular phenotypic changes that resemble classical descriptions of epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT), with some unique aspects. They also show that these TM4SF5-mediated effects trigger tumor formation when these cells are injected into mice. The study implicates TM4SF5, for the first time to our knowledge, in EMT oncogenic pathways of cancer progression.Citation
Muschel, R.J. and Gal, A. (2008) 'Tetraspanin in oncogenic epithelial-mesenchymal transition', Journal of Clinical Investigation, 118 (4),pp.1347-1350.DOI
10.1172/JCI35308Additional Links
http://www.jci.org/articles/view/35308Type
ArticleLanguage
enISSN
0021-9738ae974a485f413a2113503eed53cd6c53
10.1172/JCI35308