Oncotarget

Reviews:

Exploiting cancer's phenotypic guise against itself: targeting ectopically expressed peptide G-protein coupled receptors for lung cancer therapy

Mahjabin Khan, Tao Huang, Cheng-Yuan Lin, Jiang Wu, Bao-Min Fan and Zhao-Xiang Bian _

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Oncotarget. 2017; 8:104615-104637. https://doi.org/10.18632/oncotarget.18403

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Abstract

Mahjabin Khan1,*, Tao Huang1,*, Cheng-Yuan Lin1,2, Jiang Wu3, Bao-Min Fan2 and Zhao-Xiang Bian1

1Laboratory of Brain-Gut Research, School of Chinese Medicine, Hong Kong Baptist University, HKSAR, Kowloon Tong, P.R. China

2YMU-HKBU Joint Laboratory of Traditional Natural Medicine, Yunnan Minzu University, Kunming, P.R. China

3State Key Laboratory of Applied Organic Chemistry, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, P. R. China

*These authors contributed equally to this work

Correspondence to:

Zhao-Xiang Bian, email: [email protected]

Keywords: cancer, G-protein coupled receptors, lung cancer, overexpressed receptors, peptides

Received: March 31, 2017     Accepted: May 23, 2017     Published: June 07, 2017

ABSTRACT

Lung cancer, claiming millions of lives annually, has the highest mortality rate worldwide. This advocates the development of novel cancer therapies that are highly toxic for cancer cells but negligibly toxic for healthy cells. One of the effective treatments is targeting overexpressed surface receptors of cancer cells with receptor-specific drugs. The receptors-in-focus in the current review are the G-protein coupled receptors (GPCRs), which are often overexpressed in various types of tumors. The peptide subfamily of GPCRs is the pivot of the current article owing to the high affinity and specificity to and of their cognate peptide ligands, and the proven efficacy of peptide-based therapeutics. The article summarizes various ectopically expressed peptide GPCRs in lung cancer, namely, Cholecystokinin-B/Gastrin receptor, the Bombesin receptor family, Bradykinin B1 and B2 receptors, Arginine vasopressin receptors 1a, 1b and 2, and the Somatostatin receptor type 2. The autocrine growth and pro-proliferative pathways they mediate, and the distinct tumor-inhibitory effects of somatostatin receptors are then discussed. The next section covers how these pathways may be influenced or ‘corrected’ through therapeutics (involving agonists and antagonists) targeting the overexpressed peptide GPCRs. The review proceeds on to Nano-scaled delivery platforms, which enclose chemotherapeutic agents and are decorated with peptide ligands on their external surface, as an effective means of targeting cancer cells. We conclude that targeting these overexpressed peptide GPCRs is potentially evolving as a highly promising form of lung cancer therapy.


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