Zhiheng He, Amin Ismail, Leonid Kriazhev, Gulzhakhan Sadvakassova, Andrew Bateman
Progranulin (pgrn; PC-cell-derived growth factor, epithelin precursor, or acrogranin) has been identified recently as an autocrine regulator of tumorigenesis in several cancer cells including SW-13 adrenal carcinomas and some breast cancers, but how pgrn promotes tumor progression is not well understood. SW-13 cells do not form tumors in nude mice but become highly tumorigenic when their pgrn expression is elevated, and this provides a useful model in which to investigate the role of pgrn in tumorigenesis. Here we show that, in SW-13 cells, the level of pgrn expression is a major determinant of the intrinsic activity of the mitogen-activated protein kinase, phosphatidylinositol 3'-kinase, and focal adhesion kinase signaling pathways...
October 1, 2002: Cancer Research