Roles of versican in cancer biology - tumorigenesis, progression and metastasis

William Weidong Du*, Weining Yang* and Albert J. Yee

Sunnybrook Research Institute, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and Institute of Medical Sciences, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
*These authors contributed equally.

Offprint requests to: Albert J. Yee, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre and Centre for the Study of Bone Metastasis, Odette Cancer Centre, Department of Surgery, University of Toronto, 2075 Bayview Avenue, Rm. MG 371-B, Toronto, Ontario, M4N 3M5, Canada. e-mail: albert.yee@sunnybrook.ca


Summary. Versican, a large extracellular matrix proteoglycan accumulates in tumor stroma and plays a key role in both malignant transformation and tumor progression. Increased versican expression has been observed in a wide range of malignant tumors, and has been associated with both cancer relapse and poor patient outcomes in breast, prostate, and many other cancer types. Through negatively-charged chondroitin and dermatan sulfate side chains or interactions of the G1 and G3 domains, versican is able to regulate many cellular processes including cell adhesion, proliferation, apoptosis, migration, angiogenesis, invasion and metastasis. In this review, the biological roles that versican plays in cancer development are presented. Therapeutic targeting of versican in malignant tumors is also discussed. Histol Histopathol 28, 701-713 (2013)

Key words: Tumorigenesis, Metastasis, Invasion, Apoptosis, Versican

DOI: 10.14670/HH-28.701