title: Novel roles for Slits and netrins: axon guidance cues as anticancer targets?
abstract: Over the past few years, several genes, proteins and signalling pathways that are required for embryogenesis have been shown to regulate tumour development and progression by playing a major part in overriding antitumour safeguard mechanisms. These include axon guidance cues, such as Netrins and Slits. Netrin 1 and members of the Slit family are secreted extracellular matrix proteins that bind to deleted in colorectal cancer (DCC) and UNC5 receptors, and roundabout receptors (Robos), respectively. Their expression is deregulated in a large proportion of human cancers, suggesting that they could be tumour suppressor genes or oncogenes. Moreover, recent data suggest that these ligand-receptor pairs could be promising targets for personalized anticancer therapies.
authors.affiliation: Apoptosis, Cancer and Development Laboratory-Equipe labellisée La Ligue-, CRCL UMR INSERM U1052 CNRS 5286, Université de Lyon, Centre Léon Bérard, 69008 Lyon, France. mehlen@lyon.fnclcc.fr
authors.forename: Patrick
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Mehlen
authors.forename: Céline
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Delloye-Bourgeois
authors.forename: Alain
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Chédotal
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001369:Axons / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D009414:Nerve Growth Factors / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D000075388:Netrin-1; D011485:Protein Binding; D025521:Tumor Suppressor Proteins / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: C000617351:NTN1 protein, human; D009414:Nerve Growth Factors; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins; D025521:Tumor Suppressor Proteins; D000075388:Netrin-1