PEA and cancer cell self-cannibalisation

A phosphoprotein known to inhibit the growth of ovarian cancer does it by inducing autophagy, or self-cannibalisation of cancer cells, US researchers have found.

PEA-15 is known to slow cell proliferation by binding to a kinase in the cytoplasm called ERK, which when activated fuels cancer growth.

The researchers, led by Dr Naoto Ueno at the Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Centre, have now found PEA-15 also induces autophagy, in which a cell entraps parts of its cytoplasm in membranes and digests its contents, ultimately eating itself until it dies.

Women with ovarian tumours that showed a high level of PEA-15 expression had significantly longer survival times than those with low levels, leading the team to suggest PEA-15 expression is an important marker for prognosis.

The findings are published in the November 15 issue of Cancer Research [doi: 10.1158/0008-5472.CAN-08-2592].