THE ROLES AND MECHANISMS OF SEMAPHORINS ACTIVITY IN CANCER

Abstract

Throughout embryonic and fetal development, semaphorins communicate via Plexin receptors to serve as directional cues. Their modulation of tumor angiogenesis, tumor development, cancer cell invasiveness, and metastasis is a relatively new discovery in the context of cancer. It is intriguing that activated plexins may Trans activate receptor tyrosine kinases including MET, ERBB2, FGFR2, and VEGFR2, resulting in different consequences depending on the cellular environment. In addition, several semaphorins simultaneously target endothelial and cancer cells, resulting in impressive suppression of angiogenesis and tumor development and anti-metastatic action. Taken together, these results support the idea that semaphorin signals are a viable therapeutic target for cancer treatment.