Hyaluronan in Diagnosis

Hyaluronan in Diagnosis

The first isolation of HA was in the year 1934, but research on HA and its clinical significance in health and disease
started only in the year 1970. Both HA and HASs play a significant role in many physiological and pathological processes. The cellular HA synthesis are coordinated collectively by HASs. HA has wide range of applications in clinical practice. HAS1 is expressed in malignancies like bladder and prostate cancers as well as in myeloma and malignantmesothelioma. Studies have predicted the involvement of HA in endothelial cell proliferation migration, new vessels formation and leucocytes recruitment. HA was found to influence stroma cell recruitment, tumor angiogenesis and epithelial mesenchymal transition. Measurement of HASs may help to find out tumor aggressiveness towards targeting
appropriate therapies. Measurement of both HA and CD44 will be very useful in the evaluation of breast cancer. Many
different assays based on ELISA and PCR are now available for reliable quantification of HA.

 It also play a key role in bone metabolism and its latest application is for breast cancer screening and prognostic evaluation. It has also
therapeutic value in multidrug resistance. Assays for HA and HASs have also been discussed in this review article. The contents of this review article will be very useful for future researchers to evaluate a simple, reliable and cost saving methods for measuring HA and HASs in human blood and to include them as metabolites for cancer screening.

“Keywords:” HA, HASs, CD44, Isoenzymes, Saccharides, Cancer, Breast