Caveolin-1, a stress-related oncotarget, in drug resistance

// Zhiyu Wang 1 , Neng Wang 2 , Pengxi Liu 1 , Fu Peng 3 , Hailin Tang 2 , Qianjun Chen 1 , Rui Xu 1 , Yan Dai 1 , Yi Lin 1 , Xiaoming Xie 2 , Cheng Peng 3 and Honglin Situ 1 1 Department of Mammary Disease, Guangdong Provincial Hospital of Chinese Medicine, The Second Clinical Collage of Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine, Guangzhou, China 2 Department of Breast Oncology, Sun Yat-sen Univeristy Cancer Center, State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China, Collaborative Innovation Center for Cancer Medicine, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China 3 Pharmacy College, State Key Laboratory Breeding Base of Systematic Research, Development and Utilization of Chinese Medicine Resources, Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Guangzhou, China Correspondence to: Zhiyu Wang, email: // Keywords : Cav-1, cancer drug resistance, aerobic glycolysis, cancer stem cells, ABC transporters Received : May 19, 2015 Accepted : September 08, 2015 Published : September 27, 2015 Abstract Caveolin-1 (Cav-1) is both a tumor suppressor and an oncoprotein. Cav-1 overexpression was frequently confirmed in advanced cancer stages and positively associated with ABC transporters, cancer stem cell populations, aerobic glycolysis activity and autophagy. Cav-1 was tied to various stresses including radiotherapy, fluid shear and oxidative stresses and ultraviolet exposure, and interacted with stress signals such as AMP-activated protein kinase. Finally, a Cav-1 fluctuation model during cancer development is provided and Cav-1 is suggested to be a stress signal and cytoprotective. Loss of Cav-1 may increase susceptibility to oncogenic events. However, research to explore the underlying molecular network between Cav-1 and stress signals is warranted.