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Podoplanin: a novel regulator of tumor invasion and metastasis

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Abstract

Podoplanin, a small mucin-type sialoglycoprotein, was recently shown to be involved in tumor progression. Podoplanin is overexpressed in cancer cells of various human malignancies, and recently, it is also detected in intratumoral stromal cells. We now appreciate that podoplanin plays a dual role in cancer: it can not only suppress tumor growth but also promote tumor progression. Researchers have identified several potential pathways invoked by podoplanin, which participate in the epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition, collective-cell migration, platelet activation and aggregation, and lymphangiogenesis, and thus regulate the tumor invasion and metastasis. Here, we discuss the current experimental and human clinical data on podoplanin to validate the multiple context-dependent functions in different microenvironments and to delineate the diverse regulatory mechanisms.

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Acknowledgments

This research work was supported in part by a grant from Science and Technology Development plan of Jinan (Grant No. 201101112).

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The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Oncology, Jinan Central Hospital Affiliated to Shandong University, Jinan, Shandong, People’s Republic of China

    Qi Dang, Jie Liu & Yuping Sun

  2. Shandong University, Jinan, Shandong, People’s Republic of China

    Juan Li

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  1. Qi Dang
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  2. Jie Liu
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Correspondence to Yuping Sun.

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Qi Dang and Jie Liu have contributed equally to this work.

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Dang, Q., Liu, J., Li, J. et al. Podoplanin: a novel regulator of tumor invasion and metastasis. Med Oncol 31, 24 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12032-014-0024-6

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