Tumor Suppressor Activity of ODC Antizyme in MEK-Driven Skin Tumorigenesis
January 2006
in “
Carcinogenesis
”
TLDR Antizyme slows skin tumor growth by reducing cell growth in mice.
The study tested whether suppressing ornithine decarboxylase (ODC) activity could block skin tumor promotion in mice with activated MEK mutations. By crossing these mice with those overexpressing antizyme (AZ), which degrades ODC, researchers found that AZ expression significantly delayed tumor development and reduced tumor numbers. This effect was most pronounced in MEK/K6-AZ mice, which had fewer than one tumor per mouse after 8 weeks, compared to over 13 tumors in MEK-only mice. The study suggested that AZ primarily inhibited putrescine accumulation, slowing cell growth by increasing G2/M transit time, without inducing apoptosis.
