Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, First Affiliated Hospital of Xi'an Jiaotong University, 277, West Yanta Road, 710061, Xi'an, People's Republic of China.
J Cancer Res Clin Oncol. 2010 Apr;136(4):483-91. doi: 10.1007/s00432-010-0766-2. Epub 2010 Feb 6.
Gastrin-releasing peptide (GRP) plays an important role in cancer growth and metastasis; however, the mechanisms of how GRP affects cancer progression are not well understood. Recent studies revealed that chronic stress is a major risk factor for cancer progression, and this effect may be mediated by GRP. In this review, we will discuss the mechanisms and implications of GRP linking stressor to cancer progression.
We retrieved the studies of the relationship between GRP, stress and cancers through PubMed using systematic methods to search, select, and evaluate the findings.
The results suggested that GRP can mediate the effects of stress on cancers at systemic, tissue and cellular levels: Stress elicits the secretion of GRP in the brain and GRP in turn activates the stress response pathways resulting in an elevation of stress hormones and GRP in the plasma and tissues. GRP in synergy with stress hormones stimulates the growth and invasion of cancer cells by suppressing the anti-tumor immune function and directly activating the pro-proliferative and pro-migratory signaling pathways in cancer cells.
GRP is a multi-functional peptide, which acts as a stress mediator as well as a growth factor linking stressor to cancer progression. GRP and its high-affinity receptor are useful targets for the diagnosis and treatment of cancers.
胃泌素释放肽（GRP）在癌症的生长和转移中发挥着重要作用；然而，GRP 影响癌症进展的机制尚未完全阐明。最近的研究表明，慢性应激是癌症进展的一个主要危险因素，而这种效应可能是由 GRP 介导的。在这篇综述中，我们将讨论 GRP 将应激源与癌症进展联系起来的机制和意义。
我们通过系统的方法在 PubMed 上检索了 GRP、应激与癌症之间关系的研究，以搜索、选择和评估研究结果。
结果表明，GRP 可以在系统、组织和细胞水平上介导应激对癌症的影响：应激会引起脑中 GRP 的分泌，而 GRP 反过来又会激活应激反应途径，导致应激激素和血浆及组织中 GRP 的升高。GRP 与应激激素协同作用，通过抑制抗肿瘤免疫功能和直接激活癌细胞中的促增殖和促迁移信号通路，刺激癌细胞的生长和侵袭。
GRP 是一种多功能肽，它既是应激的介质，也是生长因子，将应激源与癌症进展联系起来。GRP 及其高亲和力受体是诊断和治疗癌症的有用靶点。
