Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications, Vol.282, No.2, 421-425, 2001
WISP-2: A serum-inducible gene differentially expressed in human normal breast epithelial cells and in MCF-7 breast tumor cells
WISP-2 is a Wnt-1-induced signaling protein identified as a member of CCN growth factor family. A role for this molecule during tumorigenesis is suspected but remains unproven, Here we show that WISP-2 expression was undetectable, or minimally detectable, in nontransformed human mammary epithelial cells, but was overexpressed in MCF-7 cells. Expression of WISP-2 in MCF-7 cells was modulated by serum and correlated with the serum-induced MCF-7 tumor cell proliferation, suggesting that WISP-2 is serum responsive and may be a positive regulator of tumor cell proliferation,