The fatty acid binding protein 7 (FABP7) is involved in proliferation and invasion of melanoma cells

Abstract

BackgroundThe molecular mechanisms underlying melanoma tumor development and progression are still not completely understood. One of the new candidates that emerged from a recent gene expression profiling study is fatty acid-binding protein 7 (FABP7), involved in lipid metabolism, gene regulation, cell growth and differentiation.MethodsWe studied the functional role of FABP7 in human melanoma cell lines and using immunohistochemistry analyzed its expression pattern and clinical role in 11 nevi, 149 primary melanomas and 68 metastases.ResultsFABP7 mRNA and protein level is down-regulated following treatment of melanoma cell lines with a PKC activator (PMA) or MEK1 inhibitor (PD98059). Down-regulation of FABP7 using siRNA decreased cell proliferation and invasion but did not affect apoptosis. In clinical specimens, FABP7 was expressed in 91% of nevi, 71% of primary melanomas and 70% of metastases, with a cytoplasmic and/or nuclear localization. FABP7 expression was associated with tumor thickness in superficial spreading melanoma (P = 0.021). In addition, we observed a trend for an association between FABP7 expression and Ki-67 score (P = 0.070) and shorter relapse-free survival (P = 0.069) in this group of patients.ConclusionOur data suggest that FABP7 can be regulated by PKC and the MAPK/ERK1/2 pathway through independent mechanisms in melanoma cell lines. Furthermore, FABP7 is involved in cell proliferation and invasion in vitro, and may be associated with tumor progression in melanoma.

Importance of brain‑type fatty acid binding protein for cell-biological processes in human renal carcinoma cells

“…the small decrease in the protein level by about 20% may have been insufficient to effectively change the invasion. In support of our results, both goto et al (11) and slipicevic et al (15) showed that proliferation and invasion of melanoma cell lines are decreased upon down-regulation of B-FABp. similarly, Mita et al (5) showed decreased migration and invasion of B-FABp positive malignant glioma cells following B-FABp depletion.…”

Distinct isoform of FABP7 revealed by screening for retroelement-activated genes in diffuse large B-cell lymphoma

“…Five selected chimeric transcript predictions were confirmed in DLBCL cell lines and we conducted further analysis of one particular chimera, namely LTR2-FABP7, which we confirmed encodes a novel isoform of the FABP7 protein with an alternative first coding exon. FABP7 is normally expressed in brain, but not in blood, and is up-regulated in various solid tumor types, where it is a marker for poor prognosis (28)(29)(30)(31). However, it has not been associated with DLBCL or any other lymphoma before this report.…”

“…Hence, any FABP7-specific chemotherapeutic treatments that do not cross the blood-brain barrier could be highly cancer-specific, making FABP7 a potentially useful therapeutic target. FABP7 is up-regulated in several solid cancer types, including melanoma (28)(29)(30)(31)47), and has previously been recognized as a novel target for a melanoma treatment (48). It is worth noting that most of these studies would not have detected differential promoter use of FABP7, so it is possible that the LTR2 element might also drive expression of this gene in other cancers.…”

Transcriptome expression profiling of fur color formation in domestic rabbits using Solexa sequencing

“…Most researchers have focused on the relationship between FABP7 and cancers, including brain glioma. Slipicevic et al (2008) showed that the FABP7 protein regulates the proliferation and invasion of melanoma cells in vitro. However, these investigators did not elaborate on whether this protein could weaken melanin in melanoma cells.…”