Istituto di Istologia ed Embriologia, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Fondazione Policlinico Universitario A. Gemelli, IRCCS, 00168 Rome, Italy.
Int J Mol Sci. 2019 Apr 30;20(9):2144. doi: 10.3390/ijms20092144.
Glioblastoma (GBM) is the most malignant tumor type affecting the adult central nervous system. Despite advances in therapy, the prognosis for patients with GBM remains poor, with a median survival of about 15 months. To date, few treatment options are available and recent trials based on the molecular targeting of some of the GBM hallmark pathways (e.g., angiogenesis) have not produced any significant improvement in overall survival. The urgent need to develop more efficacious targeted therapies has led to a better molecular characterization of GBM, revealing an emerging role of semaphorins in GBM progression. Semphorins are a wide group of membrane-bound and secreted proteins, originally identified as axon guidance cues, signaling through their receptors, neuropilins, and plexins. A number of semaphorin signals involved in the control of axonal growth and navigation during development have been found to furthermore participate in crosstalk with different dysfunctional GBM pathways, controlling tumor cell proliferation, migration, and invasion, as well as tumor angiogenesis or immune response. In this review, we summarize the regulatory activities mediated by semaphorins and their receptors on the oncogenic pathways implicated in GBM growth and invasive/metastatic progression.
胶质母细胞瘤(GBM)是影响成人中枢神经系统最恶性的肿瘤类型。尽管治疗取得了进展,但 GBM 患者的预后仍然不佳,中位生存期约为 15 个月。迄今为止,治疗选择有限,最近基于 GBM 标志性通路(如血管生成)的分子靶向的试验并未在总生存期方面产生任何显著改善。迫切需要开发更有效的靶向治疗方法,这导致了对 GBM 的更好的分子特征描述,揭示了信号素在 GBM 进展中的新兴作用。信号素是一组广泛的膜结合和分泌蛋白,最初被鉴定为轴突导向线索,通过其受体、神经纤毛蛋白和丛蛋白信号传递。在发育过程中控制轴突生长和导航的许多信号素信号已被发现进一步参与与不同功能失调的 GBM 通路的串扰,控制肿瘤细胞增殖、迁移和侵袭以及肿瘤血管生成或免疫反应。在这篇综述中,我们总结了信号素及其受体在涉及 GBM 生长和侵袭/转移进展的致癌途径中的调节活性。