The expression and modulation of CEACAM1 and tumor cell transformation

• Main Authors: Valentina Fiori, Mauro Magnani, Maurizio Cianfriglia
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Istituto Superiore di Sanità 2012-06-01
• Series: Annali dell'Istituto Superiore di Sanità
• Subjects: CEACAM1; cancro; alterata regolazione; NSCLC; melanoma; prognosi infausta
• Online Access: http://www.scielosp.org/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0021-25712012000200009&lng=en&tlng=en

BACKGROUND: In this review, we focus our discussion on one class of carcinoembryonic antigen-related cell adhesion molecules, Carcinoembryonic antigen-related cell adhesion molecules 1 (CEACAM1). This has been observed in several malignant transformations to be subjected to complex mechanisms of modulation and dysregulation. AIMS: Restoration of CEACAM1 expression in tumor cell lines often abolishes their oncogenicity in vivo, and therefore, this adhesion molecule has been regarded as a tumor suppressor. In contrast, de novo expression of CEACAM1 is found with the progression of malignancy and metastatic spread in a large array of cancer tissues which include melanoma, Non Small cell Lung carcinoma (NSCLC) as well as bladder, prostate, thyroid, breast, colon and gastric carcinomas. DISCUSSION: We report and discuss the most significant findings confirming at immunohistochemical and clinical level the correlation between poor prognosis and expression of CEACAM1 on the cell surface of tumors.