Cancer studies with ABCF2

ATP-binding cassette superfamily F2 (ABCF2) is a member of the ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporter superfamily, and more specifically, a member of the GCN20 subfamily. Most members of this family are membrane proteins that transport various substrates across the cell membrane [1, 2]. ABC genes have a pair of nucleotide binding folds (NBF) and trans-membrane (TM) domains; ABCF2 differs by having a pair of NBF’s but no TM domains.  It is this distinction that leads most researchers to believe that ABCF2 does not have any membrane transport function, but instead may be involved in translational control, antibiotic resistance, and RNase L inhibition [1, 3].

Areas of study that utilize the ABCF2 protein include breast cancer, cervical cancer, clear cell ovarian adenocarcinoma, and endometrial cancer.  Studies have found that ABCF2 may play a role in tumor suppression at metastatic sites, the endocrine pathway for breast cancer, and as a useful biomarker for cervical cancer [2, 3, 4].  Some breast cancers, being endocrine dependent cancers, utilize hormones for carcinogenesis.  ABCF2 expression has been seen to increase in these types of breast cancer tissues. This suggests that ABCF2 may act as a surrogate marker for endocrine dependent proteins.  There is also evidence that there is a relationship between ABCF2 expression and sensitivity to endocrine therapy [2].

The overexpression of ABCF2 was also found in conjunction with ectopic endometriosis [2].  However, ABCF2 expression is not related to prognosis or clinical factors such as age, stage, histologic type, histologic grade, and estrogen receptor status in endometrial cancer [3].

In cervical cancer, ABCF2 expression is found to be higher in stages III and IV.  Currently, squamous cell antigen (SCC) is used as a marker for cervical cancer; however, there are conflicting reports on the accuracy of pretreatment SCC measurements as it pertains to prognostic significance [3].   In cervical non-squamous cell carcinoma, ABCF2 expression is prevalent.  This ABCF2 expression correlated with overall survival in clinical trials.  ABCF2 may therefore be a more useful biomarker for cervical non-squamous cell carcinoma [3].

1. Dean, M., Rzhetsky, A., and Allikmets, R. 2001. The Human ATP-Binding Cassette [ABC] Transporter Superfamily. Genome Research. 11: 1156-1166.
2. Hiroshi, T., Ito, Y.M., Ohashi, Y., Wong, K., Hashinguchi, Y., Welch, W., Berkowitz, R.S., Birrer, M.J., and Mok, S.C. 2005. Identification of overexpression and amplification of ABCF2 in clear cell ovarian adenocarcinomas by cDNA microarray analyses.  Clin Cancer Res. 11: 6880.
3. Nishimura, S., Tsuda, H., Miyagi, Y., Hirasawa, A., Suzuki, A., Kataoka, F., Nomura, H., Chiyoda, T., Banno, K., Fujii, T., Susumu, N., and Aoki, D. 2008. Can ABCF2 protein expression predict the prognosis of uterine cancer? British Journal of Cancer. 99: 1651-1655.
4. Ogawa, Y., Tsuda, H., Hai, E., Tsuji, N., Yamahgata, S., Tokunaga, S., Nakazawa, K., Tamamori, Y., Ogawa, M., Shimizu, S., Inoue, T., and Nishiguchi, Y. 2006. Clinical role of ABCF2 expression in breast cancer. Anticancer Research. 26: 1809-1814.

Novus Biologicals offers ABCF2 reagents for your research needs including:

• ABCF2 primary antibodies
• ABCF2 lysates
• ABCF2 peptides and proteins
• ABCF2 antibody pairs
• ABCF2 RNAi