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Lumican is a member of the small leucine-rich proteoglycan family. It is present in numerous extracellular matrices of different tissues, such as muscle, cartilage, and cornea. In skin, lumican is present as a glycoprotein. It plays a critical role in collagen fibrillogenesis, as shown by knocking out of its gene in mice. A direct link between lumican expression and melanoma progression and metastasis has been demonstrated. Lumican was shown to impede tumour cell migration and invasion by directly interacting with the a 2 b 1 integrin. In addition, an active sequence of the lumican core protein, called lumcorin, was identified as being responsible for inhibition of melanoma cell migration. Lumican was also shown to exert angiostatic properties by downregulating the proteolytic activity associated with endothelial cell membranes, particularly matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-14 and MMP-9. Globally, lumican appears to be a potent agent for inhibiting tumour progression rather than tumorigenesis. However, progressive changes in proteoglycans occur in the tumour environment. The complexity and diversity of proteoglycan structure might be responsible for a variety of functions that regulate cell behaviour. Through their core protein and their glycosaminoglycan chains, proteoglycans can interact with growth factors and chemokines. These interactions affect cell signalling, motility, adhesion, growth, and apoptosis. This review summarizes recent data concerning lumican control of tumour progression in different cancers, with a particular focus on its interactions with MMPs and integrins. Its potential therapeutic implications are discussed.

The drug "Titrated Extract from Centella asiatica" (TECA), used for its stimulating properties on the healing of wounds, is a mixture of 3 terpenes extracted from a tropical plant: asiatic acid (30%, w/w), madecassic acid (30%, w/w) and asiaticoside (40%, w/w). The effects of TECA and its individual components were checked on human foreskin fibroblast monolayer cultures. TECA increased the collagen synthesis in a dose-dependent fashion whereas a simultaneous decrease in the specific activity of neosynthesized collagen was observed. Asiatic acid was found to be the only component responsible for collagen synthesis stimulation. TECA and all three terpenes increased the intracellular free proline pool. This effect was independent of the stimulation of collagen synthesis.

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The concentration of neuron-specific enolase (NSE) in serum and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) has been used as a biomarker in some cancers and, more recently, in neurodegenerative diseases. Pre-analytical conditions are very important for the quality of returned results. In this study, we evaluated the effects of storage conditions (temperature and duration of storage) and hemolysis on the concentration of NSE in serum and CSF. Our results demonstrate that samples for NSE measurement may be stored at -80 degrees C for no more than 6 months in the case of CSF and 9 months in the case of serum samples. Even invisible hemolysis may increase NSE levels in samples. Consequently, an index of hemolysis should be determined before deciding whether or not to perform NSE measurement.

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