Expression and Role of Heparan Sulfated Proteoglycans in Pancreatic Cancer

Pancreatic cancer is a lethal condition with poor outcomes and an increasing incidence. The unfavourable prognosis is due to the lack of early symptoms and consequent late diagnosis. An effective method for the early diagnosis of pancreatic cancer is therefore sought by many researchers in the field. Heparan sulfated proteoglycan-related genes are often expressed differently in tumors than in normal tissues. Alteration of the tumor microenvironment is correlated with the ability of heparan sulfated proteoglycans to bind cytokines and growth factors and eventually to influence tumor progression. Here we discuss the importance of glypicans, syndecans, perlecan and extracellular matrix modifying enzymes, such as heparanases and sulfatases, as potential diagnostics in pancreatic cancer. We also ran an analysis on a multidimensional cancer genomics database for heparan sulfated proteoglycan-related genes, and report altered expression of some of them.