Title: Up-regulation of tumor suppressor genes might promote the malignant phenotype of cancer cells
Abstract: Inactivation of tumor suppressor genes is believed to be responsible for carcinogenesis. As tumor suppressor genes are usually down-regulated in cancer tissues, up-regulation of them are considered as valuable strategy for gene therapy. However, more and more reports show that the strategy is becoming doubtful. Recently, a lot of tumor suppressor genes are found up-regulated in cancer cells treated with chemotherapeutic drugs or radiation [1]. It is interesting that these genes can not only suppress the tumorigenesis activity of cancer cells in animals, but also enhance the proliferate activity of cancer cells treated with drugs or radiation, and protect cancer cells from apoptosis [2,3]. These studies lead to the hypothesis, that up-regulation of tumor suppressor genes might promote the malignant phenotype of cancer cells under some conditions. Actually, there might be a balance. Tumor suppressor genes are down-regulated in cancer cells, where it is under the balance, so up-regulation of them can reverse the malignant phenotype of cancer cells. They are highly expressed in cancer cells treated with drugs or radiation, where it is above the balance, so up-regulation of them can promote the malignant phenotype of cancer cells. This hypothesis might modify the therapeutic strategy for tumor suppressor genes. It means that introduction of tumor suppressor genes might not be helpful for patients treated with chemotherapy or radiotherapy.
Publication Year: 2007
Publication Date: 2007-01-01
Language: en
Type: letter
Indexed In: ['crossref', 'pubmed']
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Cited By Count: 3
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