Pleiotrophin (PTN) is a secreted cytokine that is expressed in various cancer cell lines and human tumor such as colon cancer, lung cancer, gastric cancer and melanoma.
Pleiotrophin (PTN) is a secreted growth factor with angiogenic activity that has been found to contribute to the growth and metastasis of tumors including melanoma.
Pleiotrophin is a heparin-binding growth factor involved in the differentiation and proliferation of neuronal tissue during embryogenesis, and also secreted by melanoma and breast carcinoma cells.
As a model we used human melanoma cells (1205LU) that express high levels of PTN and metastasize from subcutaneous tumors to the lungs of experimental animals.