Biochim Biophys Acta. 2014 Dec;1842(12 Pt B):2636-45. doi: 10.1016/j.bbadis.2014.08.016. Epub 2014 Sep 7.

Investigation of cAMP microdomains as a path to novel cancer diagnostics.

Author information

1: Department of Pathology, Joan and Sanford I. Weill Medical College of Cornell University, 1300 York Avenue, New York, NY 10021, USA.
2: Albert Einstein College of Medicine at Yeshiva University, 1300 Morris Park Avenue, Bronx, NY 10461, USA; Department of Dermatology, Joan and Sanford I. Weill Medical College of Cornell University, 1300 York Avenue, New York, NY 10021, USA.
3: Department of Dermatology, Joan and Sanford I. Weill Medical College of Cornell University, 1300 York Avenue, New York, NY 10021, USA. Electronic address: jhzippin@med.cornell.edu.

Abstract

Understanding of cAMP signaling has greatly improved over the past decade. The advent of live cell imaging techniques and more specific pharmacologic modulators has led to an improved understanding of the intricacies by which cAMP is able to modulate such a wide variety of cellular pathways. It is now appreciated that cAMP is able to activate multiple effector proteins at distinct areas in the cell leading to the activation of very different downstream targets. The investigation of signaling proteins in cancer is a common route to the development of diagnostic tools, prognostic tools, and/or therapeutic targets, and in this review we highlight how investigation of cAMP signaling microdomains driven by the soluble adenylyl cyclase in different cancers has led to the development of a novel cancer biomarker. Antibodies directed against the soluble adenylyl cyclase (sAC) are highly specific markers for melanoma especially for lentigo maligna melanoma and are being described as "second generation" cancer diagnostics, which are diagnostics that determine the 'state' of a cell and not just identify the cell type. Due to the wide presence of cAMP signaling pathways in cancer, we predict that further investigation of both sAC and other cAMP microdomains will lead to additional cancer biomarkers. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled: The role of soluble adenylyl cyclase in health and disease.