The aim of our study was to evaluate the utility of osteoprotegerin (OPG), osteopontin (OPN), epidermal growth factor (EGF) and vascular endothelial growth factor VEGF for the diagnosis and prognosis of melanoma.
Active FAK in turn accumulated in the nucleus where it led to the expression of osteopontin and other FN-type matrix in both mouse embryonic fibroblasts and human melanoma.
To optimise predictive models for sentinal node biopsy (SNB) positivity, relapse and survival, using clinico-pathological characteristics and osteopontin gene expression in primary melanomas.
In this study we report that expression of GLI1 and osteopontin (OPN) increase progressively with the progression of melanoma from primary cutaneous cancer to metastatic melanoma in clinically derived specimens.
In line with this, immunoblotting showed significantly enhanced baseline and bFGF-induced OPN protein expression in melanoma cell lines which were homozygous for the -443C allele, compared with cell lines with other allelic variants.
Overexpression of osteopontin has been found in a variety of cancers, including breast cancer, lung cancer, colorectal cancer, stomach cancer, ovarian cancer, and melanoma.
CD44 surface expression and MMP-2 activity in the conditioned medium were increased to a greater extent in M21/OPN cells as compared with M21 or alpha(v)995 cells.
Our observations suggest that OPN may be acquired early in melanoma development and progression, and may enhance tumor cell growth in invasive melanoma.
In melanocytes, expression of the secreted adhesion protein OPN was up-regulated by the melanoma-inducing receptor tyrosine kinase Xmrk as well as by the fibroblast growth factor receptor, which plays a decisive role in human melanoma.