Functional targeting of the MUC1 oncogene in human cancers

The MUC1 oncoprotein is aberrantly expressed at high levels in most human carcinomas and certain hematologic malignancies.1 Estimates are that, of the 1.4 million tumors diagnosed each year in the US, about 900,000 have overexpression of MUC1. MUC1 has thus become a highly attractive target for the development of new anti-cancer agents, including vaccines, antibodies and small molecules. However, there are presently no approved agents that target MUC1, in part because there has been limited information about how MUC1 contributes to the malignant phenotype. Indeed, MUC1 consists of two subunits, and the more recent focus of research on the MUC1 receptor subunit has provided new insights into (i) how MUC1 induces transformation and is of importance to human cancers, and (ii) how to target MUC1 function as an approach for anti-cancer treatment.