A new diagnostic tool for colorectal cancers prognosis

20 sept 2008--To analyze the clinical significance of BAMBI, authors studied its expression in CRC using immunohistochemical staining. They show that BAMBI overexpression is correlated with aggressive tumor phenotypes and predicts tumor recurrence and cancer-related death in CRC. BAMBI may be usable as a target for diagnostic and antibody medicine.
A research article to be published on August 21, 2008 in the World Journal of Gastroenterology addresses this question. The research team led by Ohwada S from department of surgery, graduate school of medicine, Gunma University used BAMBI antibody, which is a transmembrane glycoprotein induced by BMP signaling that is related to TGF-β-type I receptors. BAMBI inhibits TGF-β signaling by forming a heterodimer with TGF-β-type II receptors. Previously, authors found that both Wnt/β-catenin signaling and TGF-β signaling activate transcription of BAMBI and that BAMBI expression is aberrantly elevated in most colorectal cancers. To analyze the clinical significance of BAMBI, they studied its expression in CRC using immunohistochemical staining.
BAMBI overexpression is correlated with aggressive tumor phenotypes and predicts tumor recurrence and cancer-related death in CRC. BAMBI may be usable as a target for diagnostic and antibody medicine.
The expression level of BAMBI plays an important role in the pathogenesis of colorectal cancer. The development of a new active monoclonal anti-BAMBI antibody may offer a great improvement in survival of CRC patients and might also serve as a diagnostic tool for CRC prognosis. This is an extremely well written and researched paper. It discovers yet another marker of prognosis for colorectal carcinoma.
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Reference: Togo N, Ohwada S, Sakurai S, Toya H, Sakamoto I, Yamada T, Nakano T, Muroya K, Takeyoshi I, Nakajima T, Sekiya T, Yamazumi Y, Nakamura T, Akiyama T. Prognostic significance of BMP and activin membrane-bound inhibitor in colorectal cancer. World J Gastroenterol 2008; 14(31): 4880-4888
http://www.wjgnet.com/1007-9327/14/4880.asp
Correspondence to: Susumu Ohwada, Department of Surgery, Graduate School of Medicine, Gunma University,3-39-22 Showa-Machi, Maebashi, Gunma 371-8511, Japan. go.go.ohwada@gmail.com
Telephone: +81-279-233030 Fax: +81-279-232740