New Study Identifies FAM120A as Critical Protein in Tumor Establishment

Researchers investigating the role of progranulin in cancer progression have previously identified the signaling receptor EphA2 as critical in tumor establishment and potential target to enhance the effectiveness of chemotherapy. While the exact molecular mechanisms of action are still not well understood, the growth factor progranulin is known to be involved in several human pathologies, including frontotemporal dementia (FTD), immune response, and cancer. A new study identifies the protein FAM120A as a critical effector in the progranulin/EphA2 tumorigenic axis. 

The authors include investigators from the Sbarro Institute for Cancer Research and Molecular Medicine and the Center for Biotechnology at Temple University, Ph.D. student Vrunda Satasiya, Professor Antonio Giordano, M.D., Ph.D., and Andrea Morrione, Ph.D., in collaboration with investigators from Thomas Jefferson University, University of Milano-Bicocca, University of Catania and University Napoli Federico II.

The paper, "Functional characterization of FAM120A as a novel effector in the progranulin/EphA2 oncogenic axis in bladder cancer" is published in the Journal of Experimental and Clinical Cancer Research, a high impact factor international-peer-reviewed journal. 

Through experiments on Bladder Cancer cell lines, FAM120A emerges as a novel interactor that plays a potentially pivotal role in cancer cell activity and tumor growth. High levels of FAM120A were found to correspond with increased progranulin-induced cancer proliferation, while suppression of FAM120A appears to reduce tumor growth and increases sensitivity to the common chemotherapy drug cisplatin. The authors theorize that targeting FAM120A may be used to reduce tumor malignancy, as well as sensitize cancer cells to chemotherapy agents. 

This work is important to better understand how bladder cancer is modulated and the role that oncogenic pathways play in this process."

Antonio Giordano, Professor, Sbarro Health Research Organization (SHRO) 

"Identification of novel regulators for cancer genes might open new strategies for therapy," adds Morrione, Research Professor and Deputy Director of the Sbarro Institute. "Furthermore, FAM120A expression may work as a biomarker with diagnostic and possibly prognostic value."