1. Full Length and Delta Lactoferrin Display Differential Cell Localization Dynamics, but do not Act as Tumor Markers or Significantly Affect the Expression of Other Genes
- Author
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Toshikazu Ushijima, Kayoko Suenaga, Tsutomu Ohta, Hiroyuki Tsuda, Jun Yokota, Takehiko Kunimoto, Christina T. Teng, David B. Alexander, Kazuaki Miyamoto, Gary S. Goldberg, and Fumiyoshi Ishidate
- Subjects
Tumor suppressor gene ,Molecular Sequence Data ,Biology ,Mice ,fluids and secretions ,Cell Line, Tumor ,Drug Discovery ,Gene expression ,Biomarkers, Tumor ,Animals ,Receptor ,Transcription factor ,Gene ,Cell Line, Transformed ,Cell Nucleus ,chemistry.chemical_classification ,Microscopy, Confocal ,Base Sequence ,Lactoferrin ,Alternative splicing ,food and beverages ,Fibroblasts ,Molecular biology ,Alternative Splicing ,stomatognathic diseases ,Gene Expression Regulation ,chemistry ,Transferrin ,biology.protein ,Gene Deletion - Abstract
Lactoferrin is a secreted protein related to transferrin. Lactoferrin indirectly protects host cells against foreign insults by killing bacteria, scavenging free iron, and binding to receptors required for viral invasion. However, lactoferrin is also proposed to act directly on cells as a transcription factor and tumor suppressor gene. In addition to full length lactoferrin, a truncated form, called delta lactoferrin, can also be produced by alternative splicing. We show here that transformed and nontransformed cells are equally able to express both full length and delta lactoferrin. Moreover, both forms of lactoferrin failed to substantially modulate the expression of other genes. Thus, lactoferrin does not seem to directly control gene expression or inhibit tumor cell growth.
- Published
- 2005