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Copyright ©The Author(s) 2015. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Sep 7, 2015; 21(33): 9707-9716
Published online Sep 7, 2015. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v21.i33.9707
Contactin 1: A potential therapeutic target and biomarker in gastric cancer
De-Hu Chen, Ji-Wei Yu, Bo-Jian Jiang
De-Hu Chen, Ji-Wei Yu, Bo-Jian Jiang, Department of General Surgery, Shanghai Ninth People’s Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai 201900, China
Author contributions: Chen DH and Jiang BJ initiated the study; Chen DH performed the literature search and wrote the paper; and Yu JW and Jiang BJ evaluated and edited the paper.
Supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China, No. 81101850; the Shanghai Municipal Health Bureau Foundation of China, No. 20134393; and the Science Research Foundation of Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, No. 13XJ10028.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare no conflicts of interest.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Bo-Jian Jiang, MD, PhD, Professor of Surgery, Department of General Surgery, Shanghai Ninth People’s Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai 201900, China. jiang-bj2102@hotmail.com
Telephone: +86-21-56691101
Received: March 18, 2015
Peer-review started: March 19, 2015
First decision: May 18, 2015
Revised: June 2, 2015
Accepted: July 15, 2015
Article in press: July 15, 2015
Published online: September 7, 2015
Processing time: 173 Days and 1.8 Hours
Abstract

Despite advances in diagnosis and treatment, gastric cancer remains one of the most common malignant tumors worldwide, and early diagnosis remains a challenge. The lack of effective methods to detect these tumors early is a major factor contributing to the high mortality in patients with gastric cancer, who are typically diagnosed at an advanced stage. Additionally, the early detection of metastases and the curative treatment of gastric cancer are difficult to achieve, and the detailed mechanisms remain to be fully elucidated. Thus, the identification of valuable predictive biomarkers and therapeutic targets to improve the prognosis of patients with gastric cancer is becoming increasingly important. Contactin 1 (CNTN1), a cell adhesion molecule, is a glycosylphosphatidylinositol-anchored neuronal membrane protein that plays an important role in cancer progression. The expression of CNTN1 is upregulated in primary lesions, and its expression level correlates with tumor metastasis in cancer patients. The current evidence reveals that the functions of CNTN1 in the development and progression of cancer likely promote the invasion and metastasis of cancer cells via the VEGFC/FLT4 axis, the RHOA-dependent pathway, the Notch signaling pathway and the epithelial-mesenchymal transition progression. Therefore, CNTN1 may be a novel biomarker and a possible therapeutic target in cancer treatment in the near future.

Keywords: Cancer/neoplasms, Stomach, Contactin 1, Metastasis, Molecular target

Core tip: Gastric cancer remains a major public health issue, and the investigation of therapeutic targets and biomarkers is of great importance. The accumulated evidence demonstrates that contactin 1 (CNTN1) plays a crucial role in cancer progression. In this manuscript, the role of CNTN1 in cancer is discussed and the mechanisms through which CNTN1 mediates the invasion and metastasis of cancer cells are summarized.