Should a Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR-4) agonist or antagonist be designed to treat cancer? TLR-4: its expression and effects in the ten most common cancers.
Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR-4) is well known for its host innate immunity. Despite the fact that TLR-4 activation confers antitumor responses; emerging evidence suggests that TLR-4 is associated with tumor development and progression. It is now clear that overactivation of TLR-4, through various immune mediators, may cause immune response dysfunction, resulting in tumorigenesis. Different cancers could have different extents of TLR-4 involvement during tumorigenesis or tumor progression. In this review, we focus on infection- and inflammation-related TLR-4 activation in noncancer and cancer cells, as well as on the current evidence about the role of TLR-4 in ten of the most common cancers, viz, head and neck cancer, lung cancer, gastrointestinal cancer, liver cancer, pancreatic cancer, skin cancer, breast cancer, ovarian cancer, cervical cancer, and prostate cancer.
Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, School of Pharmacy, International Medical University, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Chun Wai
CW
Mai
Yew Beng
YB
Kang
Mallikarjuna Rao
MR
Pichika
MD-2; PAMPs; cancer treatment; drug design; myeloid differentiation factor 2; pathogen-associated molecular patterns; tumor progression