Biotechnology Bulletin ›› 2016, Vol. 32 ›› Issue (2): 46-50.doi: 10.13560/j.cnki.biotech.bull.1985.2016.02.006

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The Role and Mechanism of Polyamine in Cancer Therapy

MA Rong, CHEN Zi-yu, JIANG Dong-mei, KANG Bo   

  1. (Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province for Farm Animal Genetic Resources Exploration and Innovation,Sichuan Agricultural University,Chengdu 611130)
  • Received:2015-05-08 Online:2016-02-24 Published:2016-02-25

Abstract: Polyamine is a necessary substance in eukaryotic cells growth and development, the disorder of polyamine metabolism is closely related to the occurrence of cancer.Research shows that enzyme ornithine decarboxylase and S-adenosylmethionine decarboxylase inhibiting polyamine biosynthesis effectively relieve the development of cancer.In addition, using the specificity of transmembrane transport system of polyamine, synthesized polyamine analogues and conjugates are transported to the cells, then it plays the role in anti-cancer therapy by decreasing the levels of polyamine, regulating the acetylation and methylation of histone proteins, and effectively promoting the apoptosis of tumor cells.In order to provide reference for the research of targeted therapy to cancer by using metabolic pathway of polyamine in the future, the research progress on the inhibition of polyamine synthase and using polyamine analogues and conjugates for treating cancer are reviewed in this paper.

Key words: polyamine, ornithine decarboxylase, S-adenosylmethionine decarboxylase, polyamine analogue, cancer