Abstract
As a family of integral membrane proteins, tetraspanins have been functionally linked to a wide spectrum of human cancers, ranging from breast, colon, lung, ovarian, prostate, and skin carcinomas to glioblastoma. CD151 is one such prominent member of the tetraspanin family recently suggested to mediate tumor development, growth, and progression in oncogenic context- and cell lineage-dependent manners. In the current review, we summarize recent advances in mechanistic understanding of the function and signaling of integrin-associated CD151 and other tetraspanins in multiple cancer types. We also highlight emerging genetic and epigenetic evidence on the intrinsic links between tetraspanins, the epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT), cancer stem cells (CSCs), and the Wnt/β-catenin pathway, as well as the dynamics of exosome and cellular metabolism. Finally, we discuss the implications of the highly plastic nature and epigenetic susceptibility of CD151 expression, function, and signaling for clinical diagnosis and therapeutic intervention for human cancer.
Document Type
Review
Publication Date
4-21-2021
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
https://doi.org/10.3390/cancers13092005
Funding Information
The study was supported in part by pilot project funding from National Institutes of Health COBRE grant #5P20GM121327-03, as well as support from the University of Kentucky Department of Pharmacology and Nutritional Sciences (to X.H.Y.).
Repository Citation
Erfani, Sonia F.; Hua, Hui; Pan, Yueyin; Zhou, Binhua P.; and Yang, Xiuwei H., "The Context-Dependent Impact of Integrin-Associated CD151 and Other Tetraspanins on Cancer Development and Progression: A Class of Versatile Mediators of Cellular Function and Signaling, Tumorigenesis and Metastasis" (2021). Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry Faculty Publications. 184.
https://uknowledge.uky.edu/biochem_facpub/184
Included in
Biochemistry, Biophysics, and Structural Biology Commons, Oncology Commons, Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences Commons
Notes/Citation Information
Published in Cancers, v. 13, issue 9, 2005.
© 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).