Acetylcholinesterase is a well-known protein because of the relevance of its enzymatic activity in the hydrolysis of acetylcholine in nerve transmission. In addition to the catalytic action, it exerts non-catalytic functions; one is associated with apoptosis, in which acetylcholinesterase could significantly impact the survival and aggressiveness observed in cancer. The participation of AChE as part of the apoptosome could explain the role in tumors, since a lower AChE content would increase cell survival due to poor apoptosome assembly. Likewise, the high Ach content caused by the reduction in enzymatic activity could induce cell survival mediated by the overactivation of acetylcholine receptors (AChR) that activate anti-apoptotic pathways. On the other hand, in tumors in which high enzymatic activity has been observed, AChE could be playing a different role in the aggressiveness of cancer; in this review, we propose that AChE could have a pro-inflammatory role, since the high enzyme content would cause a decrease in ACh, which has also been shown to have anti-inflammatory properties, as discussed in this review. In this review, we analyze the changes that the enzyme could display in different tumors and consider the different levels of regulation that the acetylcholinesterase undergoes in the control of epigenetic changes in the mRNA expression and changes in the enzymatic activity and its molecular forms. We focused on explaining the relationship between acetylcholinesterase expression and its activity in the biology of various tumors. We present up-to-date knowledge regarding this fascinating enzyme that is positioned as a remarkable target for cancer treatment.
乙酰胆碱酯酶是一种众所周知的蛋白质，因其在神经传递中水解乙酰胆碱的酶活性具有重要意义。除了催化作用外，它还发挥非催化功能；其中一项与细胞凋亡相关，乙酰胆碱酯酶可能显著影响癌症中观察到的细胞存活和侵袭性。乙酰胆碱酯酶作为凋亡体组成部分的参与可以解释其在肿瘤中的作用，因为较低的乙酰胆碱酯酶含量会因凋亡体组装不良而增加细胞存活率。同样，由酶活性降低引起的高乙酰胆碱含量可能通过过度激活乙酰胆碱受体（AChR）来诱导细胞存活，从而激活抗凋亡途径。另一方面，在观察到高酶活性的肿瘤中，乙酰胆碱酯酶可能在癌症侵袭性中扮演不同角色；本综述提出，乙酰胆碱酯酶可能具有促炎作用，因为高酶含量会导致乙酰胆碱减少，而乙酰胆碱已被证明具有抗炎特性，正如本综述所讨论的。在本综述中，我们分析了该酶在不同肿瘤中可能表现出的变化，并考虑了乙酰胆碱酯酶在mRNA表达的表观遗传变化、酶活性及其分子形式变化控制中所经历的不同调控水平。我们重点解释了乙酰胆碱酯酶表达与其活性在各种肿瘤生物学中的关系。我们提供了关于这种迷人酶的最新知识，它已成为癌症治疗的重要靶点。
Changes in the Acetylcholinesterase Enzymatic Activity in Tumor Development and Progression
肿瘤(癌症)患者之家