THE POTENTIAL ROLES OF NM23 IN CANCER METASTASIS AND CELLULAR-DIFFERENTIATION

The majority of cancer patients succumb to the consequences of metasta tic disease. A correlation of increased nm23 expression to low metasta tic potential has been established in several malignancies, based on p ublished prognostic studies with tumour cohorts and transfection studi es, Transfection of highly metastatic MDA-MB-435 human breast carcinom a cells with nm23-H1 cDNA resulted in a significant reduction in the m etastatic potential in vivo. These transfections also showed inhibitio n of colonisation and motility, as well as morphological and biosynthe tic differentiation in vitro. The biochemical mechanism of Nm23-H1 act ion, as well as the identity of proteins involved in its functional bi ochemical pathway, are still unknown. We summarise published and recen t research concerning the role of the nm23 gene in metastasis and norm al cellular differentiation.