title: Role of the colony-stimulating factor (CSF)/CSF-1 receptor axis in cancer.
abstract: Cancer cells employ a variety of mechanisms to evade apoptosis and senescence. Pre-eminent among these is the aberrant co-expression of growth factors and their ligands, forming an autocrine growth loop that promotes tumour formation and progression. One growth loop whose transforming potential has been repeatedly demonstrated is the CSF-1/CSF-1R axis. Expression of CSF-1 and/or CSF-1R has been documented in a number of human malignancies, including breast, prostate and ovarian cancer and classical Hodgkin's lymphoma (cHL). This review summarizes the large body of work undertaken to study the role of this cytokine receptor system in malignant transformation. These studies have attributed a key role to the CSF-1/CSF-1R axis in supporting tumour cell survival, proliferation and enhanced motility. Moreover, increasing evidence implicates paracrine interactions between CSF-1 and its receptor in defining a tumour-permissive and immunosuppressive tumour-associated stroma. Against this background, we briefly consider the prospects for therapeutic targeting of this system in malignant disease.
authors.affiliation: Department of Research Oncology, King's Health Partners Integrated Cancer Centre, King's College London, Guy's Hospital Campus, Great Maze Pond, London SE1 9RT, U.K.
authors.forename: Daniela
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Achkova
authors.affiliation: Department of Research Oncology, King's Health Partners Integrated Cancer Centre, King's College London, Guy's Hospital Campus, Great Maze Pond, London SE1 9RT, U.K. Department of Immunology, Barnet Hospital, Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust, Barnet, Hertfordshire EN5 3DJ, U.K. Department of Clinical Immunology and Allergy, King's College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, Denmark Hill, London SE5 9RS, U.K. john.maher@kcl.ac.uk.
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Maher
mesh_terms: D003115:Colony-Stimulating Factors / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008024:Ligands; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000503:physiopathology*; D016186:Receptor, Macrophage Colony-Stimulating Factor / Q000737:chemistry / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D003115:Colony-Stimulating Factors; D008024:Ligands; D016186:Receptor, Macrophage Colony-Stimulating Factor
keywords: c-fms; cancer; clinical prognostic factors; colony-stimulating factor-1; colony-stimulating factor-1 receptor; tumour progression