These findings validate dystrophin as a tumor suppressor and likely anti-metastatic factor, suggesting that therapies in development for muscular dystrophies may also have relevance in the treatment of cancer.
Interestingly, it has been recently reported that DMD is involved in the development and progression of myogenic tumors, assigning DMD a tumor suppressor activity in these types of cancer.
To assess the effect of the difference in cancer cell types on the recruitment of BMD-VE and BMD-MF, 10 kinds of human cancer cell line were implanted into the subcutaneous tissue of the immunodeficient mice transplanted with bone marrow of double-mutant mice (RAG-1-/- beta-gal Tg or RAG-1-/- GFP Tg).
Altered expression of proteins in the dystrophin-associated glycoprotein complex results in muscular dystrophy and has more recently been implicated in a number of forms of cancer.