Furthermore, one of the DSG3 antibodies showed anti-tumour activity in tumour mouse models but did not induce adverse effects such as blister formation in the skin.
A total of 36% of the tumours showed high DSG3 expression that correlated significantly with shorter patient survival (P=0.011) and poor tumour differentiation (P<0.001), whereas no such association was detected for DSG1 or DSG2.
Because more prominent aberrations of Dsg2/Dsg3 expression were seen at the protein than at the mRNA level in BCC, these comparative observations indicate greater importance of events at the proteome level than those at the genome level in tumour functional compartments.
These cellular results were confirmed using tumor xenografts in mice, as DSG3 silencing led to the suppressed tumor growth, plakoglobin translocation and reduced expression of TCF/LEF target genes in tumors.