Periostin expression and epithelial-mesenchymal transition in cancer: a review and an update

Our plain-English summary of Periostin expression and epithelial-mesenchymal transition in cancer: a review and an update, by L. Morra, H. Moch (Virchows Archiv, 2011).

The study

• Authors: L. Morra, H. Moch
• Journal: Virchows Archiv
• Published: 2011;459(5):465-75
• Type of article: Review
• Cited by: 213 articles, as counted by NIH iCite
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher · Free full text

Abstract

Periostin, also called osteoblast-specific factor 2, is a secreted cell adhesion protein, which shares a homology with the insect cell adhesion molecule fasciclin I. It has been shown to be an important regulator of bone and tooth formation and maintenance, and of cardiac development and healing. Recent studies revealed that periostin plays an important role in tumor development and is upregulated in a wide variety of cancers such as colon, pancreatic, ovarian, breast, head and neck, thyroid, and gastric cancer as well as in neuroblastoma. Periostin binding to the integrins activates the Akt/PKB- and FAK-mediated signaling pathways which lead to increased cell survival, angiogenesis, invasion, metastasis, and importantly, epithelial-mesenchymal transition of carcinoma cells. In this review we summarize recent clinicopathological studies that have investigated periostin expression in lung, kidney, prostate, liver cancer, and malignant pleural mesothelioma and discuss the role of periostin isoforms in tumorigenesis and their potential as targets for stroma-targeted anticancer therapy.

In plain English

This article was a review, not a new study. The authors summarized published research on periostin, a secreted protein, and its part in epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT), a process in which cancer cells take on features linked to invasion and spread. They described studies of periostin in non-small cell lung cancer, malignant pleural mesothelioma, prostate cancer, renal cell carcinoma, hepatocellular carcinoma and bile duct carcinoma. The article did not discuss asbestos or any occupational exposure.

For malignant pleural mesothelioma, the review described a study by Schramm et al. of more than 350 patients. That study reported that periostin in tumor cells was an independent prognostic factor for overall survival, and that higher levels went with poorer survival. Periostin was also associated with the sarcomatoid type of mesothelioma.

Studies of the other cancers linked periostin to higher grade, higher stage or poorer survival. Depending on the cancer type, the link was with periostin in tumor cells or in tumor stroma, the tumor's supporting tissue.

The authors concluded that these findings speak in favor of periostin's potential usefulness as a target for immunotherapy.

We wrote this plain-English summary from the full article with the help of AI, and a second AI model checked each sentence against the article. It is not the authors' wording; the abstract and the article are their own account.

What the study did and found

• Design: Narrative review of published studies on periostin, epithelial-mesenchymal transition and cancer
• Who was studied: Published studies of periostin expression in non-small cell lung cancer, malignant pleural mesothelioma, prostate cancer, renal cell carcinoma, hepatocellular carcinoma and bile duct carcinoma
• Exposure: No asbestos or occupational exposure was studied. The review concerns expression of the protein periostin in tumors. It mentions hypoxia (low oxygen) only as a cellular stress that can increase periostin in laboratory cells.
• Main results:
  • Malignant pleural mesothelioma: the review described an immunohistochemical study by Schramm et al. of more than 350 patients
  • In that mesothelioma study, periostin in tumor cells was considered an independent prognostic factor for overall survival
  • In that mesothelioma study, high periostin levels in tumor cells correlated with poor survival
  • In that mesothelioma study, periostin in both the tumor stroma and the tumor cells was associated with the sarcomatoid type of mesothelioma
  • Non-small cell lung cancer (study by Soltermann et al. described in the review): periostin in the tumor stroma was a prognostic factor for shorter progression-free survival
  • Renal cell carcinoma (study described in the review): periostin in tumor cells was significantly higher in high-grade and high-stage tumors and was significantly associated with poor overall survival
  • Liver cancers (study by Riener et al. of 91 hepatocellular carcinoma and 116 bile duct carcinoma patients, described in the review): periostin in tumor cells was higher in higher-grade hepatocellular carcinoma and was an independent prognostic marker for poor overall survival in bile duct carcinoma
• The authors' conclusion: The authors concluded that periostin's increase in many tumor types, its accessibility from the bloodstream, and its correlation with malignant behavior and poor prognosis speak in favor of its potential usefulness as an immunotherapy target. They also said that, depending on the cancer type, either epithelial or stromal periostin is associated with different tumor behavior.

Topics

Medical terms in this study, explained in our Lexicon: Stomach Cancer, Angiogenesis, Metastasis, Carcinoma, Pleural Mesothelioma, Tumorigenesis.

Related studies

• Prognostic significance of epithelial-mesenchymal transition in malignant pleural mesothelioma — A. Schramm, I. Opitz, et al. (2010)
• Micro-RNA-215 and -375 regulate thymidylate synthase protein expression in pleural mesothelioma and mediate epithelial to mesenchymal transition — F. Napoli, I. Rapa, et al. (2022)
• CD26-mediated regulation of periostin expression contributes to migration and invasion of malignant pleural mesothelioma cells — E. Komiya, K. Ohnuma, et al. (2014)
• Epithelial-mesenchymal transition in malignant mesothelioma — A. Fassina, R. Cappellesso, et al. (2012)
• Epithelial-mesenchymal transition involved in pulmonary fibrosis induced by multi-walled carbon nanotubes via TGF-beta/Smad signaling pathway — T. Chen, H. Nie, et al. (2014)
• Multi-walled carbon nanotubes directly induce epithelial-mesenchymal transition in human bronchial epithelial cells via the TGF-β-mediated Akt/GSK-3β/SNAIL-1 signalling pathway — M. Polimeni, G.R. Gulino, et al. (2016)

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