Increased expression of the gene encoding stearoyl-CoA desaturase 1 in human bladder cancer

Abstract

Bladder cancer is a common disease and a significant cause of death worldwide. There is thus great interest in identifying a diagnostic and prognostic biomarker, as well as gaining an understanding of the molecular basis of bladder cancer. Stearoyl-CoA desaturase 1 gene (SCD1) is highly overexpressed in many human cancers. However, the expression of SCD1 has not yet been investigated in patients with bladder cancer. Here, we document that (a) the SCD1 is highly overexpressed in human bladder cancer; (b) high expression of SCD1 is more frequently observed in the late stage of disease and patients with lymph node metastasis; (c) bladder cancer patients with a higher SCD1 mRNA level have a poorer survival rate than those with normal SCD1 expression. Overall, this is the first report to indicate an association between SCD1 mRNA level and clinical indicators of human bladder cancer. Our study has provided evidence supporting the potential role of SCD1 as a biomarker for human bladder cancer prognosis.

Stearoyl-CoA Desaturase 1 as a Therapeutic Target for the Treatment of Cancer

“…Higher levels of MUFAs have also been found in transformed cells and cancerous tissue [14,15,16,17,18], and have been shown to modulate tumorigenic pathways [19,20,21]. Consistent with these findings, SCD1 expression is significantly elevated in various human cancer cells [22,23,24,25]. Moreover, this increase in SCD1 expression is positively correlated with cancer aggressiveness and poor patient prognosis in liver, thyroid, prostate, pancreatic, kidney, skin, and breast cancer [16,26,27,28,29].…”

Saturated Fatty Acid Intake Is Associated With Increased Inflammation, Conversion of Kynurenine to Tryptophan, and Delta-9 Desaturase Activity in Healthy Humans

“…30 Indeed increased Δ9 desaturase activity, expression or concentration, has previously been associated with several disease states including Alzheimer's disease, 32 diabetes, 33 and some forms of cancer. 34,35 The high degree of Δ9 desaturase regulation indicates that maintaining cellular lipid homeostasis is likely vital for a variety of cellular processes, with either too much or too little saturated or monounsaturated FAs having detrimental consequences. [36][37][38][39] This study did have a number of limitations.…”

Lineage-Restricted Regulation of SCD and Fatty Acid Saturation by MITF Controls Melanoma Phenotypic Plasticity

“…To support proliferation cancer cells require large amounts of saturated and monounsaturated fatty acids (SFA, MUFA) that are used for energy storage and production, membrane biogenesis and signaling (Currie et al, 2013). Consequently proliferating cancer cells can exhibit elevated expression of key enzymes required for de novo fatty acid synthesis including fatty acid synthase (FASN), ATP citrate lyase (ACLY) or stearoyl-CoA desaturase (SCD) that have been proposed as possible drug targets (Peck et al, 2016;Presler et al, 2018;Rysman et al, 2010;Ventura et al, 2015;Zaidi et al, 2012). However, although reprogramming lipid metabolism is an important characteristic of tumor cell biology, the molecular mechanisms underlying the transcriptional control of lipid anabolism in cancer cells remain underexplored.…”

“…The proportion of saturated and unsaturated fatty acids, is a crucial determinant of cell behavior (Currie et al, 2013), with the rate limiting step of fatty acid desaturation catalyzed by SCD (Koeberle et al, 2016). SCD is essential for proliferation in a wide variety of cancer types (Peck et al, 2016;Kamphorst et al, 2013;Pinkham et al, 2019;Presler et al, 2018;Xie et al, 2018;Igal, 2016).…”