Nestin is a class VI intermediate filament
protein that was originally described as a neuronal stem cell marker during central nervous system (CNS) development, and is currently widely used in that capacity.
Nestin is also expressed in non-neuronal immature or progenitor cells in normal tissues. Under pathological conditions,
nestin is expressed in repair processes in the CNS, muscle, liver, and infarcted myocardium. Furthermore, increased
nestin expression has been reported in various
tumor cells, including CNS
tumors, gastrointestinal stromal tumors,
pancreatic cancer,
prostate cancer,
breast cancer,
malignant melanoma,
dermatofibrosarcoma protuberances, and thyroid
tumors.
Nestin is reported to correlate with aggressive growth,
metastasis, and poor prognosis in some
tumors; however, the roles of
nestin in
cancer cells have not been well characterized. Furthermore,
nestin is more specifically expressed in proliferating small-sized
tumor vessels in
glioblastoma and gastric, colorectal, and
prostate cancers than are other
tumor vessel markers. These findings indicate that
nestin may be a marker for newly synthesized
tumor vessels and a therapeutic target for
tumor angiogenesis. It has received a lot of attention recently as a cancer stem cell marker in various
cancer cells including
brain tumors, malignant
rhabdoid tumors, and uterine, cervical, prostate, bladder, head and neck, ovarian, testicular, and
pancreatic cancers. The purpose of this review is to clarify the roles of
nestin in
cancer cells and in
tumor angiogenesis, and to examine the association between
nestin and cancer stem cells.
Nestin has the potential to serve as a molecular target for
cancers with
nestin-positive
cancer cells and
nestin-positive
tumor vasculature.