Ann Thorac Surg 2005;80:1032
© 2005 The Society of Thoracic Surgeons
Original article: General thoracic
Invited commentary
Akira Iyoda, MD, PhD
Department of Thoracic Surgery, Chiba University Graduate School of Medicine, 1-8-1, Inohana, Chuo-ku, Chiba 260-8670, Japan
(Email: iyoda{at}haibyo1.m.chiba-u.ac.jp).
Embryonic proteins possibly play a significant role in the development of lung carcinomas. Bone morphogenetic protein-2 (BMP-2), a multipurpose cytokine, is a member of the transforming growth factor-ß superfamily. It is involved in the proliferation and differentiation of cells, and the regulation of cell adhesion. The BMP-2 contributes not only to bone formation, but also to neural and cardiac development. The BMP-2 may also be associated with tumor growth in malignant fibrous histiocytoma, prostate cancer, myeloma, and so forth. Although the role for BMP-2 has not been elucidated, there are studies suggesting that BMP-2 may enhance the angiogenic response in tumors. In some mesenchymal tumors, BMP-2 may affect biological process such as tumorigenesis and metastatic potential. However, levels of BMP-2 expression vary widely in tumor tissues. Conversely, there is also a report that overexpression of BMP-2 in patients with malignant fibrous histiocytomas is indicative of a good prognosis. Therefore, patients with high levels of BMP-2 do not necessarily have a poor prognosis.
To date, there have been few studies focusing on the correlation between BMP-2 and lung carcinomas. In this report, a follow-up of their previous work, Langenfeld and colleagues [1] performed studies on the expression of bone morphogenetic proteins in lung carcinoma tissues, and clearly showed that BMP-2 is a specific protein overexpressed in these tissues.
The specificity of expression of BMP-2 in lung carcinoma tissues is noteworthy. In studies on lung carcinomas, it is very important to identify proteins that are overexpressed in cancerous tissue but not in normal lung tissue, because these specific proteins could become targets for molecular therapy. The BMP-2 expression was found in a wide variety of lung cancer histologies, including not only epithelial derived tumors but also neuroendocrine tumors; however it was not seen in normal lung tissues and benign lung tumors. These facts suggest that BMP-2 has a role in lung cancer formation rather than in progression, and that BMP-2 may indeed be a good target for molecular therapies.
Further studies on the role that BMP-2 plays in lung carcinomas are needed before targeting strategies are initiated, and we are looking forward to their further efforts.
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- Langenfeld EM, Bojnowski J, Perone J, Langenfeld J. Expression of bone morphogenetic proteins in human lung carcinomas Ann Thorac Surg 2005;80:1028-1032.[Abstract/Free Full Text]
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