UMass Chan Affiliations
Department of Cancer BiologyDocument Type
Journal ArticlePublication Date
2006-08-23Keywords
Animals*Apoptosis
Breast Neoplasms
Carcinoma
Female
*Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic
Humans
Integrin alpha6beta4
Models, Biological
Neoplasm Metastasis
Neovascularization, Pathologic
Receptors, Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor
Signal Transduction
Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A
Cancer Biology
Neoplasms
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
This review advances the hypothesis that the function of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) in breast cancer is not limited to angiogenesis, and that VEGF signaling in breast carcinoma cells is important for the ability of these cells to evade apoptosis and progress towards invasive and metastatic disease. In other terms, VEGF signaling provides a selective advantage for the survival and dissemination of breast carcinoma cells that may be independent of angiogenesis. The key component of this hypothesis is that breast carcinoma cells express specific VEGF receptors and that these receptors respond to autocrine VEGF, resulting in the activation of signaling pathways that impede apoptosis and promote cell migration. A related hypothesis, which is developed in this review, is that the alpha6beta4 integrin, which has been implicated in the survival and motility of breast cancer cells, can stimulate the translation of VEGF mRNA and, consequently, autocrine VEGF signaling. These findings imply that VEGF and VEGF receptor-based therapeutics, in addition to targeting angiogenesis, may also target tumor cells directly.Source
J Mammary Gland Biol Neoplasia. 2005 Oct;10(4):283-90. Link to article on publisher's siteDOI
10.1007/s10911-006-9001-9Permanent Link to this Item
http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14038/26272PubMed ID
16924371Related Resources
Link to Article in PubMedae974a485f413a2113503eed53cd6c53
10.1007/s10911-006-9001-9