Abstract
Prostate transglutaminase-4, also known as TGM4 or transglutaminase P, belongs to the prostate transglutaminase protein family, but is almost uniquely distributed in the prostate gland. Recent years have seen an expansion of interest in this enzyme, which is intriguingly expressed in prostate tissues and prostate cancer. In recent studies, the molecule has been found to have a diverse impact on prostate cancer cell growth, migration and invasiveness, and to be involved in the tumor–endothelial interaction and epithelial–mesenchymal transition, and has a wide interaction with other molecular complexes implicating it as a possible biomarker of aggressive versus nonaggressive cancer, as well as a therapeutic factor. This article reviews the recent progress and discusses the controversies and future directions in this exciting area of prostate cancer research.
Financial & competing interests disclosure
The authors would like to thank the Robert Benjamin Ablin Foundation for Cancer Research and Cancer Research Wales for supporting this work. The authors have no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed.
No writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript.