Targeting MUC16 in Cancer Therapy

Over the recent decades, there has been a number of studies investigating the role of mucins in the pathogenesis of various cancers such as breast, lung, ovarian, gastrointestinal and pancreatic malignancies. Since then, it has been discovered that mucins play a critical role in tumorigenesis as they can mediate cell proliferation, metastasis and resistance to chemotherapy. Thus, mucins have been explored as a potential therapeutic target as well as a biomarker, as cancer cells often have an aberrant expression of mucins. MUC16 is a glycoprotein coded by one of the 21 mucin genes. CA125, the extracellular domain of MUC16, is a well-established biomarker for ovarian cancer, however there is no in depth literature review on MUC16 as a target for anti-cancer therapy. Thus, this review summarises the existing literature on MUC16, the current therapies targeting on MUC16 and highlights future avenues for targeting mucin-producing cancers.