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NG2/CSPG4 Proteoglycan as a Novel Prognostic Indicator and Therapeutic Target in Malignant Cancer

Hongyu Zhang, Ping Bie, Zhang Leida, Zhang Xia and Lianhua Bai

This review article describes the interaction of Neuron-glia 2 Chondroitin Sulfate Proteoglycan 4 (NG2/CSPG4) in cancer cell matrix, and its role within the cancer cell matrix in promoting angiogenesis and its potential clinical use as a novel immune drug target. Malignant cancer is maintained by a cross-talk between the cancer cells and cancer cell matrix where the activated cancer cell matrix nurtures the advancing cancer cells by providing Extracellular Matrix (ECM), neovasculature and stimulatory growth factors. Researches in recent years have accumulated a wealth of novel insight into mechanisms by which how cancer cells are co-evolved with activated cancer cell matrix throughout cancer settings. Currently, the cancer cell matrix is considered as an important “effector” in carcinogenesis. Once tightly defined cell matrix in normal tissue occasionally becomes sabotaged, the inevitable malignant progression will flip on. NG2/CSPG4 is a big multifunctional transmembrane proteoglycan with limited expression in normal tissues and its unparalleled structural-functional diversity endows it with the ability to serve as critical mediator. We describe here how the manipulation of NG2/CSPG4 on the processes driving malignant cancer cell matrix activation promotes carcinogenesis through the alteration of cancer cell adhesion, infiltration, migration, proliferation and angiogenesis, and how it will be possibile to design a decisive strategy for the development of a novel therapy specifically targeting this macromolecule for malignant cancer treatment.