Prior research has identified osteopontin (SPP1) as a potential tumor marker for malignant mesothelioma, as well as for other cancers, but little is understood about the biological activity responsible for this function. Molecular analysis of osteopontin has identified three specific isoforms of the protein, which are known as SPP1-A, SPP1-B and SPP1-C, but the relationship between these isoforms and carcinogenesis is also poorly understood. To learn more about these relationships, researchers from New York University’s School of Medicine conducted a study on tissue samples extracted from the resected tissue of patients with malignant mesothelioma and then compared their findings to a control group of healthy tissue. The researchers found that all of the isoforms of SPP1 were present in normal tissues, but that SPP1-A and SPP1-B were significantly up-regulated in the mesothelioma tissue, but SPP1-C was not. This was also the case when the researchers compared cases of primary mesothelioma to cases of recurrent mesothelioma, which led the researchers to conclude that SPP1-A and SPP1-B may be useful serum markers for mesothelioma diagnosis.
The researchers also looked at the tumorigenic activity of osteopontin and found that both SPP1-A and SPP1-B were associated with pro-tumorigenic activity, while SPP1-C was not. The researchers hypothesize that because the only structural difference between SPP1-A and SPP1-C is an exon that encodes an oligopeptide, future research may be able to develop a specific inhibitor to SPP1-A’s pro-tumorigenic activity. Such a development could be very beneficial to improving the efficacy of mesothelioma treatments.
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