Department of Neurosurgery, Graduate School of Medical Science, Kanazawa University, 13-1 Takara-machi, Kanazawa, 920-8641, Japan.
Neuro Oncol. 2011 Nov;13(11):1163-70. doi: 10.1093/neuonc/nor102. Epub 2011 Aug 19.
Accumulating evidence has revealed that the tyrosine kinases play a major role in glioma proliferation and invasion. The largest family of tyrosine kinases, the Eph family, and its ligands, the ephrins, are frequently overexpressed in glioma, suggesting important roles for their bidirectional signals in glioma pathobiology. Ephs bind to cell surface-associated ephrin ligands on neighboring cells and have many biological functions during embryonic development of the central nervous system, including axon mapping, cell migration, and angiogenesis. Recent findings suggest that Eph/ephrin signaling affects glioma cell growth, migration, and invasion in vitro and in vivo. However, their roles in glioma seem complex, because both tumor growth promoter and suppressor potentials have been ascribed to Ephs and ephrins. Here, we review recent advances in research on the role of Eph/ephrin signaling in glioma and suggest that the Eph/ephrin system could be a potential target of glioma therapy.
越来越多的证据表明，酪氨酸激酶在神经胶质瘤的增殖和侵袭中起着重要作用。酪氨酸激酶家族中最大的 Eph 家族及其配体，即 Ephrins，在神经胶质瘤中经常过度表达，表明它们在神经胶质瘤病理生物学中的双向信号具有重要作用。Eph 与邻近细胞表面相关的 Ephrin 配体结合，在中枢神经系统的胚胎发育过程中具有许多生物学功能，包括轴突定位、细胞迁移和血管生成。最近的研究结果表明，Eph/ephrin 信号在体外和体内影响神经胶质瘤细胞的生长、迁移和侵袭。然而，它们在神经胶质瘤中的作用似乎很复杂，因为 Eph 和 Ephrins 都被赋予了肿瘤生长促进剂和抑制剂的潜力。在这里，我们综述了 Eph/ephrin 信号在神经胶质瘤中的作用的最新研究进展，并提出 Eph/ephrin 系统可能是神经胶质瘤治疗的一个潜在靶点。
