Legg John A, Herbert John M J, Clissold Patricia, Bicknell Roy
Cancer Research UK Angiogenesis Group, Institute for Biomedical Research, University of Birmingham Medical School, Edgbaston, Birmingham, B15 2TT, UK.
Angiogenesis. 2008;11(1):13-21. doi: 10.1007/s10456-008-9100-x. Epub 2008 Feb 9.
Angiogenesis describes the development of new blood vessels from pre-existing vessels. The hijacking of this physiological process by tumours allows them to develop their own supplies of nutrients and oxygen, enabling their growth and metastasis. A large body of literature has accumulated over the last 20 years relating to angiogenesis, including signalling pathways involved in this process. One such pathway uses Slit-Roundabout proteins that are implicated in the development of cancers and tumour angiogenesis. The Roundabout family of receptors are large, single-pass transmembrane cell surface receptors involved in directing cell migration in response to their cognate Slit ligands. Although best known for their role in neuronal development, Slits and Roundabouts have now been implicated in myogenesis, leukocyte chemotaxis and tumour angiogenesis, confirming that the Robo signalling pathway functions across multiple cell types. We review here the evidence for a role for Slits and Roundabouts in cancer. In particular, we focus on the role of Robo1 and Robo4 in tumour angiogenesis and discuss the signalling pathways downstream of these proteins mediating endothelial cell migration.
血管生成描述了从已有的血管发展出新的血管的过程。肿瘤对这一生理过程的劫持使其能够发展自身的营养和氧气供应,从而实现生长和转移。在过去20年里,积累了大量与血管生成相关的文献,包括参与这一过程的信号通路。其中一条通路利用了与癌症发展和肿瘤血管生成有关的Slit-Roundabout蛋白。Roundabout受体家族是大型的单次跨膜细胞表面受体,参与响应其同源Slit配体来指导细胞迁移。尽管Slits和Roundabouts最出名的是它们在神经元发育中的作用,但现在它们也与肌生成、白细胞趋化性和肿瘤血管生成有关,这证实了Robo信号通路在多种细胞类型中发挥作用。我们在此回顾Slits和Roundabouts在癌症中作用的证据。特别地,我们关注Robo1和Robo4在肿瘤血管生成中的作用,并讨论这些蛋白下游介导内皮细胞迁移的信号通路。