Angiogenin by Ray Sahelian, M.D.

Angiogenin is a small polypeptide that helps for new blood vessels, a process called angiogenesis. It also acts as an enzyme.

Angiogenin and cancer
In addition to its well-known role in mediating angiogenesis, human angiogenin also directly stimulates prostate cancer cell proliferation. "Angiogenin is a novel molecular target for prostate cancer drug development, especially for hormone refractory prostate cancer," says Dr. Guo-fu Hu. Angiogenin antagonists and inhibitors could have a combined benefit of anti-angiogenesis and chemotherapy. Dr. Guo-fu Hu and colleagues examined angiogenin expression levels in human prostate tissues from 23 prostate adenocarcinomas, 20 benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), and 10 control patients. None was detected in the normal prostate tissue specimens. Angiogenin expression was significantly higher in BPH tissue and even higher in prostate cancer tissue. Angiogenin undergoes nuclear translocation in human prostate cancer cells grown both in vitro and in mice. Knocking down angiogenin expression in human prostate adenocarcinoma cells "inhibits ribosomal RNA transcription, in vitro cell proliferation, colony formation in soft agar, and xenograft growth in athymic mice. Blocking nuclear translocation of angiogenin by the aminoglycoside antibiotic neomycin effectively inhibits xenograft tumor growth of human prostate cancer in mice and this is accompanied by a decrease in both cancer cell proliferation and angiogenesis. PNAS Early Edition 2006.

Angiogenin and nasopharyngeal carcinoma
Serum angiogenin concentration in nasopharyngeal carcinoma patients and its clinical significance
Lin Chuang Er Bi Yan Hou Ke Za Zhi. 2006. Department of Medical Research, Guangzhou General Hospital of Guangzhou Military Command, Guangzhou, China.
 To determine the serum angiogenin concentration in patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) and analyze its clinical significance. Forty-two nasopharyngeal carcinoma patients and 30 healthy controls entered this study. Serum angiogenin level was quantitatively analyzed by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Our results indicate that the serum angiogenin level increases in patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma, and is correlate with primary tumor progression.