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.
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.
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.
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).