Multivariate analysis further showed that moderate/strong ATF2 expression and phospho-ATF2 positivity were independent predictors for recurrence of low-grade tumors (hazard ratio (HR) = 2.956, P = 0.045) and cancer-specific mortality of muscle-invasive tumors (HR = 5.317, P = 0.012), respectively.
Activating transcription factor 2 (ATF2) is a multifunctional transcription factor, and is implicated in tumor progress, yet its role in pancreatic cancer remains unclear.
Notably, nuclear ATF2 and low expression of IFNβ1 in melanoma tumor samples correlates with poor patient responsiveness to biochemotherapy or neoadjuvant IFN-α2a.
Activating transcription factor-2 (ATF-2) has been implicated as a tumour suppressor in breast cancer (BC). c-JUN N-terminal kinase (JNK) and p38 MAPK phosphorylate ATF-2 within the activation domain (AD), which is required for its transcriptional activity.
Herein we perform immunohistochemical analyses using a validated specific antibody for ATF2 expression and intracellular localization on a cohort of 594 malignant and 207 benign mesenchymal tumors representing 47 diagnostic entities.
Activating transcription factor 2 (ATF2; also known as cAMP-dependent transcription factor ATF-2) has oncogenic activities in melanoma and tumor suppressor activities in non-malignant skin tumors and breast cancer.
Moreover nuclear factor (NF)-κB and other transcription factors like CREB, ATF-2 involved in tumour development and angiogenesis were also inhibited by harmine.
The transcription factor ATF2 has been shown to attenuate melanoma susceptibility to apoptosis and to promote its ability to form tumors in xenograft models.
Yet work in other tumor models, including breast and skin tumors reveals that ATF2, in cooperation with mutated oncogenes or tumor suppressor genes, can also elicit tumor suppressor function.
Thus, ATF-2 acts as a tumor susceptibility gene of mammary tumors, at least partly, by activating a group of target genes, including Maspin and Gadd45alpha.
To assess the role of the ATF-2 gene as a tumor suppressor in human carcinogenesis, we examined genetic alterations of the ATF-2 gene in 9 breast cancer cell lines, 10 neuroblastoma cell lines and 46 lung cancer cell lines.
Our results suggest that ATF2 is a regulator of radiation and drug resistance in melanomas, and that tumor targeted ATF2 modulators may be useful sensitizers in the treatment of tumors of this type.