Other highlights in the Jan. 8 JNCI(ine its role of NRP2 in cancer growth an...),Health

NRP2 was expressed in primary and metastatic cancers but was not detectable in surrounding non-cancerous tissue. Blocking NRP2 reduced cell growth, migration, and invasiveness, as well as tumor growth. The researchers also demonstrated that inhibiting NRP2 was effective in treating tumors in mice.

The use of anti-NRP2 therapeutic targeting in conjunction with anti-VEGF therapy may improve on existing antiangiogenesis treatments and may provide a unique opportunity to circumvent the ability of NRP2-expressing tumors, such as colorectal cancers, to grow and metastasize, the authors write.

In an accompanying editorial, Giovanna Tosato, M.D., of the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, Md., and colleagues discuss how this groundbreaking work by Ellis and colleagues furthers the understanding of the role of NRP2 in colon cancer.

This is welcome new information. Let us hope that targeting neuropilin-2 can hit double punches against the cancer microenvironment and the cancer itself, the editorialists write.

Contact:

• Article: Laura Sussman, external communications office, M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, lsussman@mdanderson.org, (713) 745-2457
• Editorial: National Cancer Institute press office, ncipressofficers@mail.nih.gov, (301) 496-6641

Mouse Model of Rare Disorder Shows Parallel to Human Kidney Cancer

A new mouse model may be useful for studying kidney cancer development.

Birt-Hogg-Dub (BHD) syndrome is a rare genetic disorder that is associated with an increased risk of kidney cancer. Patients with BHD carry mutations in the BHD tumor suppressor gene. Masaya Baba, M.D., Ph.D., of the National Cancer Institute in Frederick, Md., used a knockout mouse model to examine the role of the BHD ge
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