The Melanoma Tumor Antigen, Melanotransferrin (P97): a 25-Year Hallmark – from Iron Metabolism to Tumorigenesis
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Oncogene (2007) 26, 6113–6124 & 2007 Nature Publishing Group All rights reserved 0950-9232/07 $30.00 www.nature.com/onc REVIEW The melanoma tumor antigen, melanotransferrin (p97): a 25-year hallmark – from iron metabolism to tumorigenesis Y Suryo Rahmanto, LL Dunn and DR Richardson Iron Metabolism and Chelation Program, Department of Pathology, University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia Melanotransferrin (MTf) or melanoma tumor antigen p97 More recently, there have been reports of MTf is a transferrin (Tf) homolog that is found predominantly protein being identified in normal tissues, including bound to the cell membrane via a glycosyl phosphatidy- sweat gland ducts (Natali et al., 1987; Alemany et al., linositol anchor. The molecule is a member of the Tf 1993), avian eosinophils (McNagny et al., 1996), porcine superfamily and binds iron through a single high-affinity fetal intestinal epithelial cells (Danielsen and van Deurs, iron(III)-binding site. Since its discovery on the plasma 1995), liver endothelial cells (Sciot et al., 1989; Alemany membrane of melanoma cells, the function of MTf has et al., 1993), rabbit and mouse cartilage (Kawamoto remained intriguing, particularly in relation to its role in et al., 1998; Nakamasu et al., 1999), avian proximal cancer cell iron transport. In fact, considering the crucial kidney tubules (McNagny et al., 1996) and the normal role of iron in many metabolic pathways, e.g., DNA endothelium and reactive microglia of brains of synthesis, it was important to understand the function of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) patients (Jefferies et al., MTf in the transport of this vital nutrient. MTf has also 1996; Kennard et al., 1996; Rothenberger et al., 1996; been implicated in diverse physiological processes, such as Yamada et al., 1999). Normal sera contains very low plasminogen activation, angiogenesis and cell migration. levels of soluble MTf (sMTf) protein (Brown et al., However, recent studies using a knockout mouse and post- 1981b) and increased sMTf has been described in transcriptional gene silencing have demonstrated that patients with AD (Kennard et al., 1996) and arthritis MTf is not involved in iron metabolism, but plays a vital (Kato et al., 2001). In addition, MTf has been shown to role in melanoma cell proliferation and tumorigenesis. In be expressed at mRNA levels in a wide variety of human this review, we discuss the possible biological functions of tissues (Richardson, 2000).From a range of 50 normal MTf, particularly in relation to cancer. human tissues, the highest MTf mRNA levels were Oncogene (2007) 26, 6113–6124; doi:10.1038/sj.onc.1210442; found in the salivary gland (Richardson, 2000).Later published online 23 April 2007 studies in mice also demonstrated that MTf mRNA levels were high in this tissue as well as the pancreas and Keywords: melanotransferrin; tumorigenesis; iron meta- epididymis (Sekyere et al., 2005). Hence, the differential bolism; melanoma expression of MTf suggests a specific function that may have physiological and pathological indications. MTf shares many important characteristics with serum Tf, including: (i) a sequence homology of 37–39% with Introduction human serum Tf, human lactoferrin (Lf) and chicken Tf; (ii) the MTf gene is located on chromosome 3, as are Melanotransferrin (MTf), or melanoma-associated tumor those for Tf and the transferrin receptor 1 (TfR1); (iii) the antigen p97, is a membrane-bound glycoprotein that is presence of many disulfide bonds in MTf that are also a homolog of the transferrin (Tf) family of non-heme present in Tf and Lf; (iv) MTf has an N-terminal Fe- Fe-binding proteins (Brown et al., 1982). MTf was one of binding site that is identical to the N-lobe Fe-binding site the first cell-surface markers associated with melanoma found in serum Tf; and (v) isolated and purified MTf can (Brown et al., 1981a). In fact, it was previously described bind Fe from Fe(III) citrate complexes (Brown et al., as an oncofetal antigen, being expressed in only small 1981a, 1982; Rose et al., 1986; Richardson and Baker, quantities in normal tissues, but in much larger amounts 1991a; Baker et al., 1992; Food et al., 2002). These in neoplastic cells (especially malignant melanoma cells) observations suggested that MTf played a role in Fe and fetal tissues (Woodbury et al., 1980; Brown et al., transport. 1981b). The most obvious difference between MTf and serum Tf is that MTf is bound mainly to the cell membrane by a glycosyl phosphatidylinositol (GPI) anchor, whereas Tf is found free in the plasma (Alemany et al., 1993; Correspondence: Dr DR Richardson, Department of Pathology, Food et al., 1994; Kennard et al., 1995; Nakamasu et al., University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, 2006 Australia. E-mail: [email protected] 1999; Yamada et al., 1999). The sMTf may also be Received 21 August 2006; revised 16 January 2007; accepted 23 February secreted from cells, although at very low levels (Food 2007; published online 23 April 2007 et al., 1994). Recent investigations have shown that Melanotransferrin: a 25-year hallmark Y Suryo Rahmanto et al 6114 deletion of the GPI-anchor via genetic engineering a much larger protein of 2031 amino acids (Table 1). resulted in a recombinant sMTf that was far less However, BLAT analysis (database version March effective than Tf at donating Fe to cells (Food et al., 2006) demonstrated the presence of extra sequence 2002).In addition, sMTf cannot be bound by the TfR1 within chimp MTf that corresponded to the human nor transferrin receptor 2 (TfR2), despite its high discs large homolog 1 (Drosophila, Dlg1) gene.Hence, structural homology to Tf (Food et al., 2002; Kawabata the large size of chimp MTf as reported in the NCBI et al., 2004). database (XM_526438; accessed July 2006) may not be Due to its high homology with Tf, its ability to bind representative of the actual gene.Only human MTf Fe and its high expression on melanoma cells, MTf was protein has been purified and characterized in detail hypothesized to play a role in Fe uptake by these tumor (Brown et al., 1981a, 1982) and the software predictions cells (Brown et al., 1982; Rose et al., 1986; Richardson of the size of other MTf family members (Table 1) must and Baker, 1990; Richardson, 2000).This was an be confirmed experimentally.An MTf-like gene has important idea to investigate, as Fe is critical for been identified in the fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster, DNA synthesis and cancer cell proliferation (Kwok and also in the mosquito, Anopheles gambiae (Adams and Richardson, 2002; Kalinowski and Richardson, et al., 2000). However, unlike other members of the MTf 2005).Other reports have suggested that MTf could play family, these insect molecules show far lower homology a role in endothelial migration and angiogenesis (Sala to other MTf family members and the single Fe-binding et al., 2002), plasminogen activation (Demeule et al., site is not conserved (Sekyere and Richardson, 2000). 2003; Michaud-Levesque et al., 2006), differentiation Hence, the role of these MTf-like proteins in insect Fe (McNagny et al., 1996; Suardita et al., 2002), and metabolism is unclear. MTf may transcytose across the blood–brain barrier The MTf amino acid sequence data from all ten animal (Demeule et al., 2002). More recently, studies using the species known have been aligned and a phylogenetic tree MTf knockout (MTfÀ/À) mouse and melanoma cells constructed (Figure 1a) by the neighbor-joining method engineered to have low MTf expression suggest the (http://align.genome.jp/) (Nakamasu et al., 1999). Analy- molecule may have a role in proliferation and melanoma sis of this phylogenetic tree shows the relationship of the tumorigenesis (Dunn et al., 2006). In this review, we will ten MTf members compared with human Tf, Lf and chic- discuss the molecular character and expression of MTf ken ovoTf.MTf diverged from the other Tf’s at position and its potential biological roles, particularly in relation ‘X’, whereas fish and avian MTf diverged from mammals to melanoma tumorigenesis. at position ‘Y’ (Figure 1a).Additionally, it has been previously shown that MTf diverged from Tf after the divergence of vertebrates and invertebrates (Nakamasu Genomic and molecular organization of MTf et al., 1999). Hence, there is evidence that in evolutionary terms, MTf is more distantly related to serum Tf than The human MTf gene and its equivalent have been Lf (Lambert et al., 2005a, b). Considering this, it is cloned and characterized in several organisms (Table 1). possible that the molecular architecture of the Tf molecule To date, this gene has been identified in ten organisms, could be a useful scaffold for ‘building’ other molecules namely human, chimpanzee, rabbit, rhesus monkey, with different functions and this is explored further in cow, mouse, rat, dog, chicken and zebrafish, where the section 5. molecules share 46–88% protein homology to human MTf.Most of the genes for MTf family members are Chromosomal localization and gene structure of MTf predicted to encode molecules of 721–1540 amino acids The human MTf gene (also denoted as MFI2)is in length, whereas the chimp gene is predicted to encode localized to region q28–29 on the reverse strand of Table 1 Comparison of known MTf gene and protein sequences between species Name Organism Genbank acces- mRNA % Nucleotide Protein % protein Chromosome number sion no. (bp) similaritya (aa) similaritya MTf Tf TfR Human Homo sapiens NM_005929 2377 100 738 100 3 3 3 bNM_033316 1651 78 302 78 — — — Chimp Pan troglodytes cXM_526438 6096 64 2031 84 3 3 3 Rabbit Oryctolagus cuniculus AB010995 2388 86 736 86 —d —d —d Rhesus Macaca mulatta cXM_001096034 4623 89 1540 86 2 2 2 Cow Bos Taurus cXM_589607 2346 88 739 88 1 1 —d Mouse Mus musculus NM_013900 4158 82 738 83 16 9 16 Rat Rattus norvegicus cXM_237839 2462 82 738 84 11 8 11 Dog Canis familiaris cXM_545158 3582 79 1193 78 33 23 33 Chicken Gallus gallus NM_205207 3547 63 738 60 9 9 9 Zebrafish Danio rerio cXM_689207 3095 54 721 46 6 —d 2 Abbreviations: MTf, melanotransferrin; Tf, transferrin; TfR, transferrin receptor.