Skin Cancer Linked to Loss of Protein That Hooks Skin Cells Together

In a study to be published online Oct. 21 in PLoS Genetics, researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine have implicated the lack of a protein important in hooking our skin cells together in the most common variety of skin cancer. Depletion of this protein, called Perp, could be an early indicator of skin cancer development, and could be useful for staging and establishing prognoses.

These findings' significance may extend beyond skin cancer, as Perp is found in the linings of many of our internal organs, where it plays the same role it does in the skin: maintaining cell-to-cell adherence. This suggests that Perp could be a useful tool for classifying tumors in these internal organs, which are often diagnosed too late to be effectively treated.

BY BRUCE GOLDMAN

Original Paper:

Bruce E. Clurman, Veronica G. Beaudry, Dadi Jiang, Rachel L. Dusek, Eunice J. Park, Stevan Knezevich, Katie Ridd, Hannes Vogel, Boris C. Bastian, Laura D. Attardi. Loss of the p53/p63 Regulated Desmosomal Protein Perp Promotes Tumorigenesis. PLoS Genetics, 2010; 6 (10): e1001168 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pgen.1001168

Source:

http://med.stanford.edu/ism/2010/october/attardi.html