Extracellular lumican inhibits cancer cell replication and restrains growth of early-stage pancreatic adenocarcinoma (PDAC) such that patients with tumors containing stromal lumican experience a three-fold longer survival after treatment.
Among small leucine rich proteoglycans, Decorin, Biglycan and Lumican are most commonly implicated markers, and their expression is well studied in various malignancies.
Lumican, a small leucine-rich proteoglycan (SLRP), has attracted attention as a molecule of the extracellular matrix possibly involved in signalling pathways affecting cancer cell behaviour.
In pancreatic cancer tissues, lumican was predominantly localized in the cytoplasm of cancer cells in 30 out of 53 (56.6%) cancer patients, whereas lumican was detected in stromal tissues in 36 out of 53 (67.9%) cancer patients.