Eph receptors and ephrins as targets for cancer therapy

Abstract

Eph receptor tyrosine kinases and their ephrin ligands are involved in various signalling pathways and mediate critical steps of a wide variety of physiological and pathological processes. Increasing experimental evidence demonstrates that both Eph receptor and ephrin ligands are overexpressed in a number of human tumours, and are associated with tumour growth, invasiveness and metastasis. In this regard, the Eph/ephrin system provides the foundation for potentially exciting new targets for anticancer therapies for Eph-expressing tumours. The purpose of this review is to outline current advances in the role of Eph receptors and ephrin ligands in cancer, and to discuss novel therapeutic approaches of anticancer therapies.

Biological and Structural Characterization of Glycosylation on Ephrin-A1, a Preferred Ligand for EphA2 Receptor Tyrosine Kinase

“…Eph receptors, with 16 known members, belong to the receptor tyrosine kinases (RTK)s family playing critical roles in many physiological processes, including embryonic tissue patterning, neuronal development, angiogenesis, and tumorigenesis (1)(2)(3)(4). Ephrins and Eph receptors are divided into two subclasses, A and B, and with some exceptions, eAs bind EphA-type receptors and ephrin-Bs (eBs) bind EphBs.…”

Chronic TCDD exposure results in the dysregulation of gene expression in splenic B-lymphocytes and in the impairments in T-cell and B-cell differentiation in mouse model

“…One such link can be provided by the Eph/ephrin family of the receptor tyrosine kinases known to play critical roles in lymphocyte differentiation (Cejalvo et al, 2013;Himanen et al, 2007). Upregulation of the Ephrin signaling pathway is one commonly found marker strongly associated with the oncogenic transformation (Pasquale, 2010;Xi et al, 2012). Most cases of NLH are lymphomas originated from B cell at various stages of differentiation and dysregulation of normal Ephrin signaling.…”

Overexpression and correlation of HIF-2α, VEGFA and EphA2 in residual hepatocellular carcinoma following high-intensity focused ultrasound treatment: Implications for tumor recurrence and progression

“…In the present study, the correlation between HIF-2α and VEGFA expression was found to be negative, possibly due to an insufficient quantity and/or quality of samples. The ephrin (Eph) receptors are the largest known family of tyrosine kinases and are divided into two subclasses: Eph-A and Eph-B (32). EphA2 belongs to the EphA subclass, and is expressed at a minimal level in epithelial cells (33).…”