Casalou Cristina, Ferreira Andreia, Barral Duarte C
CEDOC, NOVA Medical School, Faculdade de Ciências Médicas, Universidade NOVA de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal.
Front Cell Dev Biol. 2020 Apr 21;8:217. doi: 10.3389/fcell.2020.00217. eCollection 2020.
The Adenosine diphosphate-Ribosylation Factor (ARF) family belongs to the RAS superfamily of small GTPases and is involved in a wide variety of physiological processes, such as cell proliferation, motility and differentiation by regulating membrane traffic and associating with the cytoskeleton. Like other members of the RAS superfamily, ARF family proteins are activated by Guanine nucleotide Exchange Factors (GEFs) and inactivated by GTPase-Activating Proteins (GAPs). When active, they bind effectors, which mediate downstream functions. Several studies have reported that cancer cells are able to subvert membrane traffic regulators to enhance migration and invasion. Indeed, members of the ARF family, including ARF-Like (ARL) proteins have been implicated in tumorigenesis and progression of several types of cancer. Here, we review the role of ARF family members, their GEFs/GAPs and effectors in tumorigenesis and cancer progression, highlighting the ones that can have a pro-oncogenic behavior or function as tumor suppressors. Moreover, we propose possible mechanisms and approaches to target these proteins, toward the development of novel therapeutic strategies to impair tumor progression.
二磷酸腺苷核糖基化因子(ARF)家族属于小GTP酶的RAS超家族,通过调节膜运输和与细胞骨架结合,参与多种生理过程,如细胞增殖、运动和分化。与RAS超家族的其他成员一样,ARF家族蛋白由鸟嘌呤核苷酸交换因子(GEF)激活,并由GTP酶激活蛋白(GAP)失活。激活后,它们与效应器结合,介导下游功能。多项研究报道,癌细胞能够颠覆膜运输调节因子以增强迁移和侵袭能力。事实上,ARF家族成员,包括类ARF(ARL)蛋白,已被证明与多种癌症的肿瘤发生和进展有关。在此,我们综述了ARF家族成员、其GEF/GAP和效应器在肿瘤发生和癌症进展中的作用,重点介绍了那些具有促癌行为或作为肿瘤抑制因子发挥作用的成员。此外,我们提出了针对这些蛋白的可能机制和方法,以期开发新的治疗策略来抑制肿瘤进展。