Maspin is a tumor suppressor with many biological activities, multiple ligands and different subcellular localizations. Its underlying molecular mechanism remains elusive. We hypothesized that phosphorylation might regulate maspin localization and function. Using two-dimensional gel electrophoresis with different focusing power followed by Western blot we identified four different maspin forms ...

Maspin (Mammary Serine Protease Inhibitor) is a non-inhibitory serpin with multiple cellular effects that is a type II tumour metastasis suppressor. Maspin has been shown to reduce cell migration, invasion, proliferation and angiogenesis, and increase apoptosis and adhesion. In this paper, we report the development of a mathematical model of the effects of maspin on cellular proliferation and m...

In a proof of principle report elsewhere in this issue of Clinical Chemistry, Tong et al. (1 ) describe a novel approach to the noninvasive prenatal diagnosis of a human chromosomal abnormality by analyzing the allelic ratio of a polymorphism present within the methylated promoter of a DNA sequence on chromosome 18q21.3, maspin (SERPINB5). This method differs from other approaches to noninvasiv...

Detection of residual tumor cells in the circulation can provide prognostic as well as therapeutic information and help in identifying patients at high risk for developing metastases. Maspin and mammaglobin are two molecules that are specifically associated with breast cancer. We looked for mammaglobin and maspin transcripts in the peripheral blood of patients with breast cancer and evaluated t...

Maspin is a protein that belongs to serin protease inhibitor (serpin) superfamily. The purpose of this study was to review the literature concerning the expression of maspin in salivary gland tumours. A literature search was done using MEDLINE, accessed via the National Library of Medicine PubMed interface. Statistical analysis was not done because only seven studies were available in literatur...

An obstacle in the treatment of human diseases such as cancer is the inability to selectively and effectively target historically undruggable targets such as transcription factors. Here, we employ a novel technology using artificial transcription factors (ATFs) to epigenetically target gene expression in cancer cells. We show that site-specific DNA methylation and long-term stable repression of...

BACKGROUND Maspin is a 42 kDa protein known to act as a tumor suppressor. Although its function has not been fully elucidated, numerous reports have investigated the prognostic impact of maspin in patients with several types of cancer. However, there have been no reports on the association between maspin expression and the prognosis of patients with soft tissue sarcomas (STS). The aim of this s...

PURPOSE The binding of either insulin, or estrogen or progesterone to their specific receptors on neutrophils has been reported to stimulate nitric oxide (NO) induced maspin synthesis in these cells. Experiments were carried out to determine the role of insulin receptor interaction in the nitric oxide induced maspin synthesis in neutrophils that was effected by estrogen or progesterone. METHO...

Most cancer treatments efficacy depends on tumor metastasis suppression, where tumor suppressor genes play an important role. Maspin (Mammary Serine Protease Inhibitor), an non-inhibitory serpin has been reported as a potential tumor suppressor to influence cell migration, adhesion, proliferation and apoptosis in in vitro and in vivo experiments in last two decades. Lack of computational invest...

Gestational trophoblastic disease (GTD) is a group of conditions that originate from the abnormal proliferation of trophoblastic cells. GTDs encompass hydatidiform moles (HMs) and gestational trophoblastic neoplasia (GTN). GTNs are a group of malignant diseases that require chemotherapy, or more aggressive treatment. There is a requirement for more tumor markers to predict the development of GT...