Department of Pharmacology, Tokyo Women's Medical University, Tokyo, Japan.
Adv Exp Med Biol. 2021;1270:45-56. doi: 10.1007/978-3-030-47189-7_3.
The Eph/ephrin system plays a vital role in diverse physiological events such as neurogenesis, vasculogenesis, and cell adhesion. Expression analysis of mRNA and protein in clinical samples revealed the involvement of the Eph/ephrin system in tumorigenesis, Alzheimer's disease, and atherosclerosis. Therefore, the Eph/ephrin system is considered a promising therapeutic target. However, no molecularly targeted drug against Ephs and ephrins is being used in the clinic thus far.Tumors are composed of various types of cells, including fibroblasts, immune cells, and endothelial cells. Recent studies showed the contribution of these cells to tumor growth, tumor progression, drug resistance, and metastasis. In this chapter, we discuss the role of Eph/ephrin system in the tumor microenvironment and describe its functions in tumor initiation, angiogenesis, cancer stem cell, tumor immunity, and also the metastatic environment.
Eph/ephrin 系统在神经发生、血管生成和细胞黏附等多种生理事件中发挥着重要作用。在临床样本中对 mRNA 和蛋白质的表达分析表明，Eph/ephrin 系统参与了肿瘤发生、阿尔茨海默病和动脉粥样硬化。因此，Eph/ephrin 系统被认为是一个很有前途的治疗靶点。然而，目前临床上还没有针对 Eph 和 ephrins 的分子靶向药物。肿瘤由各种类型的细胞组成，包括成纤维细胞、免疫细胞和内皮细胞。最近的研究表明，这些细胞对肿瘤生长、肿瘤进展、耐药性和转移有贡献。在这一章中，我们讨论了 Eph/ephrin 系统在肿瘤微环境中的作用，并描述了它在肿瘤起始、血管生成、癌症干细胞、肿瘤免疫以及转移环境中的功能。
