Overall, our study suggests that CD151 is a key player in the Wnt oncogene-driven tumorigenesis and impacts breast cancer malignancy in a cell type-dependent manner.
These results illustrate functional interdependency between CD151 complexes and FGFR2, and suggest a previously unsuspected role of CD151 in breast tumorigenesis.
We propose that CD151 regulates the activity of VCAM-1 during lymphocyte recruitment to the human liver and could be a novel anti-inflammatory target in chronic liver disease and hepatocellular cancer prevention.<b>NEW & NOTEWORTHY</b> Chronic hepatitis is characterized by lymphocyte accumulation in liver tissue, which drives fibrosis and carcinogenesis.
CD151 is part of the tetraspanin family and it forms tight complexes with β1 and β4 integrins, both of which have been shown to be required for tumorigenesis and/or metastasis in transgenic mouse models of breast cancer.