The human interferon (IFN)-induced transmembrane protein 1 (IFITM1), also called Leu13 or CD225, is a 17-kDa cell-surface membrane protein in the IFN-stimulated genes (ISGs) protein family (1). IFITM1 was initially identified as a leukocyte membrane surface antigen involving in signal transduction in lymphocytes, such as antiproliferative and homotypic adhesion signaling (2, 3). Additionally, IFITM1 was regarded as a modulator of immunity and antiviral activity (1). Recently, with great interest we read a study “Identification of IFN-Induced Transmembrane Protein 1 With Prognostic Value in Pancreatic Cancer Using Network Module-Based Analysis” in Frontiers in Oncology (4), revealing that the expression level of IFITM1 was increased in pancreatic cancer. Patients with IFITM1 overexpression had poor survival, and IFITM1 was one of the independent prognostic factors for overall survival. Moreover, down-regulation of IFITM1 significantly suppressed the tumorigenicity of pancreatic cancer cells (4). In addition, increasing evidence have demonstrated that IFITM1 was also upregulated in numerous tumor tissues as well as cancer cell lines, such as colorectal cancer (5), gastroesophageal adenocarcinoma (6), gastric cancer (7, 8), hepatocellular carcinoma (9), lung cancer (10), breast cancer (11, 12), head and neck cancer (13, 14), gallbladder carcinoma (15), ovarian cancer (16), glioma (17), and nasopharyngeal carcinoma (18). Overexpression of IFITM1 enhanced cell proliferation, invasion, metastasis, angiogenesis, and therapeutic resistance, including endocrine therapy, chemotherapy, and radiotherapy resistance of tumors. Mechanically, IFITM1 exerted cancer-promoting effects through regulating serval pathways, including EGFR/SOX2 (10), JAK/STAT (11), and CAV-1 (19). These findings suggest that pharmacological or genetic inhibition of IFITM1 maybe a potential and novel therapeutic approach for tumors.
Statements
Author contributions
Study concept and design, XL. Data analysis, methodology, drafting manuscript, RL. Review and editing, supervision, LY. All authors contributed to the article and approved the submitted version.
Conflict of interest
The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.
References
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Summary
Keywords
IFITM1, cancer, treatment, progress, target
Citation
Li X, Liang R and Yang L (2021) Commentary: Identification of IFN-Induced Transmembrane Protein 1 With Prognostic Value in Pancreatic Cancer Using Network Module-Based Analysis. Front. Oncol. 11:707516. doi: 10.3389/fonc.2021.707516
Received
10 May 2021
Accepted
08 July 2021
Published
20 July 2021
Volume
11 - 2021
Edited by
Shilpa S. Dhar, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, United States
Reviewed by
Ken Hirasawa, Memorial University of Newfoundland, Canada
Updates
Copyright
© 2021 Li, Liang and Yang.
This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
*Correspondence: Liu Yang, yangliugd@126.com
†These authors have contributed equally to this work
This article was submitted to Cancer Genetics, a section of the journal Frontiers in Oncology
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