Scientists at the University of Tennessee's Graduate School of Medicine said the finding of the protein called ODAM -- odontogentic ameloblast associated protein -- affects diagnostic and therapeutic research.

Researchers led by Dr. Alan Solomon found that amyloid associated with a rare dental tumor was composed of ODAM fragments -- the first evidence for expression of the protein. Solomon and his team made antibodies to ODAM, as well as recombinant ODAM, and found the molecule expressed not only in dental tumors, but other epithelial cancers, including breast, gastrointestinal and lung.

Patients with such malignancies were also found to have significant quantities of anti-ODAM antibodies in their blood.

"This suggests some type of immune reaction against the tumor and that ODAM may be an important target for cancer therapy," said Daniel Kestler, a lead researcher in the study. "Our current efforts are directed toward delineating why ODAM is expressed in these cancers, as well as the function of this protein, its role in tumorogenesis and, especially, if it can serve as a novel tumor biomarker."

The study appears in the journal Molecular Medicine.