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AssigneesInserm (Institut National De La Sante Et De La Recherche Medicale), Universite D'Aix-Marseille, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Universite Claude Bernard Lyon 1, Centre Leon Berard
InventorsPhilippe NAQUET, Franck GALLAND, Virginie MILLET, Jean-Yves BLAY, Caroline GIESSNER
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Sarcomas are rare malignant tumors arising from the mesenchymal tissues at all body sites. The inventors show that in a mouse model of p16/p19 deficiency prone to tumor development, the absence of the mouse pantetheinase Vnn1 enhances the frequency of aggressive fibrosarcomas. They also show that reintroduction of a catalytically active form of the Vnn1 pantetheinase limits tumor growth in vivo. Interestingly, VNN1 expression in human sarcomas is associated with reduced aggressiveness and lower risk of metastatic relapse in patients. In conclusion, Vnn1 represents a novel marker of sarcoma and may modulate tumor aggressiveness by sustaining myofibroblast cell differentiation, thereby limiting evolution towards undifferentiated tumors. The present invention relates to the use of Vnn1 as a biomarker and a therapeutic target in sarcomas.
A method of predicting the survival time of a patient suffering from a sarcoma comprising, i) determining the activity or expression level of vanin-1 (Vnn1) in a tumor tissue sample obtained from the patient, ii) comparing the level determined at step i) with a predetermined reference value and iii) concluding that the patient will have a long survival time when the level determined at step i) is higher than the predetermined reference value or concluding that the patient will have a short survival time when the level determined at step i) is lower than the predetermined reference value.
A method of treating a sarcoma in a patient in need thereof comprising administering to the patient a therapeutically effective amount of at least one agent selected from the group consisting of i) a polypeptide (P) having an amino acid sequence having at least 80% of identify with SEQ ID NO:1, ii) a nucleic acid molecule encoding for the polypeptide (P), iii) pantothenate, iv) pantethine and iii) cysteamine (CEA).
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.