Title: Defining the Role of Integrin αvβ6 in Cancer
VOLUME: 10 ISSUE: 7
Author(s):A. Bandyopadhyay and S. Raghavan
Affiliation:Columbia University, College of Dental Medicine and Department of Dermatology, VC12-230, 622 W 168th Street, New York, NY 10032, USA.
Keywords:Integrin αvβ6, cancer, MMPs, TGF-β1, EMT
Abstract: Integrins are a large family of heterodimeric transmembrane receptors that mediate cell-substratum adhesion. αvβ6 is an epithelial-specific integrin that is a receptor for the extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins fibronectin, vitronectin, tenascin and the latency associated peptide (LAP) of TGF-β. Integrin αvβ6 is not expressed in healthy adult epithelia but is upregulated during wound healing and in cancer. αvβ6 has been shown to modulate invasion, inhibit apoptosis, regulate the expression of matrix metalloproteases (MMPs) and activate TGF-β1. There is increasing evidence, primarily from in vitro studies, that suggest that αvβ6 may actually promote carcinoma progression. In this review we summarize what has been learnt in the past few years about the role of αvβ6 in cancer progression.
