Some individuals supplement their diet with antioxidants to try to ensure that they maintain their health and prevent disease. A key target of antioxidants is reactive oxygen species (ROS), which have been linked to tumor development and progression. A team of researchers - led by Xiaojiang Cui, at the John Wayne Cancer Institute, Santa Monica; Ning-Hui Cheng, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston; and Ning Zhang, at Tianjin Medical University, China - have now determined that the protein TXNL2 helps protect human breast cancer cells from high levels of ROS. Of interest, knocking down TXNL2 levels in human breast cancer cells inhibited their ability to form tumors upon transplantation into mice.

Furthermore, enhanced TXNL2 expression in primary breast cancer samples correlated with cancer spread to the lung and brain and with decreased survival. The authors therefore suggest that TXNL2 could be a new therapeutic target for the treatment of breast cancer.

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TITLE: Thioredoxin-like 2 regulates human cancer cell growth and metastasis via redox homeostasis and NF-kB signaling

AUTHOR CONTACT:
Xiaojiang Cui
John Wayne Cancer Institute, Santa Monica, California, USA.
Phone: 310.998.3916; Fax: 310.582.7390; E-mail: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).

Ning-Hui Cheng
Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas, USA.
Phone: 713.798.9326; Fax: 713.798.7101; E-mail: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).

Ning Zhang
Tianjin Medical University, Tianjin, China.
Phone: 86.13502179648; Fax: 86.22.23542068; E-mail: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).

View this article at: http://www.jci.org/articles/view/43144?key=b9f6d6b93a68a2798fdc

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Contact: Karen Honey
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734-546-5242
Journal of Clinical Investigation