Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2017 May 23:17:57.
doi: 10.1186/s12935-017-0426-6. eCollection 2017.

Pepsinogen C expression, regulation and its relationship with cancer

Shixuan Shen  1 , Jingyi Jiang  1 , Yuan Yuan  1
Affiliations
Review

Pepsinogen C expression, regulation and its relationship with cancer

Shixuan Shen et al. Cancer Cell Int. .

Abstract

Pepsinogen C (PGC) belongs to the aspartic protease family and is secreted by gastric chief cells. PGC could be activated to pepsin C and digests polypeptides and amino acids, but as a zymogen PGC's functions is unclear. In normal physiological conditions, PGC is initially detected in the late embryonic stage and is mainly expressed in gastric mucosa. The in situ expression of PGC in gastric mucosa is decreased considerably in the process of superficial gastritis → atrophic gastritis → gastric cancer (GC), proving that PGC is a comparatively ideal negative marker of GC. Serum PGC, and PGA levels and the PGA/PGC ratio have satisfactory sensitivity, specificity and price-quality ratio for predicting high GC risk. Ectopic PGC expression is significantly increased in prostate cancer, breast cancer, ovary cancer and endometrial cancer. In those sex-related cancers high level PGC expression indicates better prognosis and longer survival. The regulation of PGC expression involves genetic and epigenetic alteration of the encoding PGC gene, hormones modulation and interactions between PGC with other transcription factors and protein kinases. More and more research evidence hinted that PGC has strong correlation with cancer. In the systematic review, we respectively elaborate the structure, potential physiological functions, expression characteristics and regulation of PGC, and especially focus on the relationship between PGC expression and cancer to highlight the role of PGC in the tumorigenesis and its application value in clinical practice.

Keywords: Expression; Gastric cancer; Pepsinogen C; Regulation; Sex hormone.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
The conserved sequence of PGC gene among various species. The areas of dark blue are the same sequences. a The sequence of PGC mRNA sequence. b The sequence of PGC protein
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Potential physiological functions of PGC. The functions of PGC includes digesting proteins, promoting the healing of gastric mucosa, maturing of organs, antimicrobial effect of gastric mucosa, preventing immune infertility and infection after intercourse, and degrading extracellular matrix. Many other functions of PGC are still unknown
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
The regulation of PGC expression. The regulation of PGC expression involves genetic and epigenetic alteration of the encoding gene, hormones modulation and interactions between PGC with other transcription factors and protein kinases
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Hassan MI, Toor A, Ahmad F. Progastriscin: structure, function, and its role in tumor progression. J Mol Cell Biol. 2010;2(3):118–127. doi: 10.1093/jmcb/mjq001. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Diaz M, Rodriguez JC, Sanchez J, Sanchez MT, Martin A, Merino AM, Vizoso F. Clinical significance of pepsinogen C tumor expression in patients with stage D2 prostate carcinoma. Int J Biol Mark. 2002;17(2):125–129. doi: 10.5301/JBM.2008.4026. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Foster C, Aktar A, Kopf D, Zhang P, Guttentag S. Pepsinogen C: a type 2 cell-specific protease. Am J Physiol Lung Cell Mol Physiol. 2004;286(2):L382–L387. doi: 10.1152/ajplung.00310.2003. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Reid WA, Vongsorasak L, Svasti J, Valler MJ, Kay J. Identification of the acid proteinase in human seminal fluid as a gastricsin originating in the prostate. Cell Tissue Res. 1984;236(3):597–600. doi: 10.1007/BF00217228. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Antunes AA, Reis ST, Leite KR, Real DM, Sousa-Canavez JM, Camara-Lopes LH, Dall’Oglio MF, Srougi M. PGC and PSMA in prostate cancer diagnosis: tissue analysis from biopsy samples. Int Braz J Urol Off J Braz Soc Urol. 2013;39(5):649–656. doi: 10.1590/S1677-5538.IBJU.2013.05.06. - DOI - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources