Focus on Hypoxia-Related Pathways in Pediatric Osteosarcomas and Their Druggability.

Osteosarcoma is the most frequent primary bone tumor diagnosed during adolescence and young adulthood. It is associated with the worst outcomes in the case of poor response to chemotherapy and in metastatic disease. While no molecular biomarkers are clearly and currently associated with those worse situations, the study of pathways involved in the high level of tumor necrosis and in the immune/metabolic intra-tumor environment seems to be a way to understand these resistant and progressive osteosarcomas.

RNA Aptamers Targeting Integrin α5β1 as Probes for Cyto- and Histofluorescence in Glioblastoma.

Nucleic acid aptamers are often referred to as chemical antibodies. Because they possess several advantages, like their smaller size, temperature stability, ease of chemical modification, lack of immunogenicity and toxicity, and lower cost of production, aptamers are promising tools for clinical applications. Aptamers against cell surface protein biomarkers are of particular interest for cancer diagnosis and targeted therapy.

Expression/activation of α5β1 integrin is linked to the β-catenin signaling pathway to drive migration in glioma cells.

The Wnt/beta catenin pathway has been highlighted as an important player of brain tumors aggressiveness and resistance to therapies. Increasing knowledges of the regulation of beta-catenin transactivation point out its hub position in different pathophysiological outcomes in glioma such as survival and migration. Crosstalks between integrins and beta-catenin pathways have been suggested in several tumor tissues.

Glioma cell dispersion is driven by α5 integrin-mediated cell-matrix and cell-cell interactions.

Glioblastoma multiform (GBM) is the most common and most aggressive primary brain tumor. The fibronectin receptor, α5 integrin is a pertinent novel therapeutic target. Despite numerous data showing that α5 integrin support tumor cell migration and invasion, it has been reported that α5 integrin can also limit cell dispersion by increasing cell-cell interaction.

β1 Integrins as Therapeutic Targets to Disrupt Hallmarks of Cancer.

Integrins belong to a large family of αβ heterodimeric transmembrane proteins first recognized as adhesion molecules that bind to dedicated elements of the extracellular matrix and also to other surrounding cells. As important sensors of the cell microenvironment, they regulate numerous signaling pathways in response to structural variations of the extracellular matrix. Biochemical and biomechanical cues provided by this matrix and transmitted to cells via integrins are critically modified in tumoral settings.