Shemanko Carrie S
Department of Biological SciencesCharbonneau Cancer Institute, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada
J Mol Endocrinol. 2016 Nov;57(4):R153-R165. doi: 10.1530/JME-16-0150. Epub 2016 Sep 22.
Prolactin and prolactin receptor signaling and function are complex in nature and intricate in function. Basic, pre-clinical and translational research has opened up our eyes to the understanding that prolactin and prolactin receptor signaling function differently within different cellular contexts and microenvironmental conditions. Its multiple roles in normal physiology are subverted in cancer initiation and progression, and gradually we are teasing out the intricacies of function and therapeutic value. Recently, we observed that prolactin has a role in accelerating the time to bone metastasis in breast cancer patients and identified the mechanism by which prolactin stimulated breast cancer cell-mediated lytic osteoclast formation. The possibility that the prolactin receptor is a marker for metastasis, and specifically bone metastasis, is one that may have to be put into the context of the different variants of prolactin, different prolactin receptor isoforms and intricate signaling pathways that are regulated by the microenvironment. The more complete the picture, the better one can test biomarker identity and design clinical trials to test therapeutic intervention. This review will cover the recent advances and highlight the complexity of prolactin receptor biology.
催乳素及催乳素受体的信号传导与功能在本质上复杂，在功能上精细。基础、临床前及转化研究让我们认识到，催乳素及催乳素受体信号传导在不同细胞环境和微环境条件下具有不同功能。其在正常生理学中的多种作用在癌症起始和进展过程中被颠覆，我们也逐渐梳理出其功能和治疗价值的复杂性。最近，我们观察到催乳素在加速乳腺癌患者骨转移时间方面发挥作用，并确定了催乳素刺激乳腺癌细胞介导的溶骨性破骨细胞形成的机制。催乳素受体作为转移（特别是骨转移）标志物的可能性，或许需要结合不同的催乳素变体、不同的催乳素受体亚型以及由微环境调节的复杂信号通路来考量。了解得越全面，就越能更好地检测生物标志物身份并设计临床试验来测试治疗干预效果。本综述将涵盖近期进展，并突出催乳素受体生物学的复杂性。
