Modulators of cancer cell invasiveness

Cell invasiveness is essential for cancer metastasis. Many proteins, and more recently also non-coding RNAs, particularly microRNAs (miRNAs), have been reported to affect the cell invasiveness of various cancers. There is an apparent gap between the high number of these macromolecules and the low number of signaling pathways experimentally verified to control cancer invasiveness. We have brought together these various proteins and RNAs because we could not find any publication that filled this important gap. We have noted 589 proteins, 28 miRNAs, and 1 long non-coding RNA that are reported to modulate invasiveness in cells of various cancers. Interestingly, 44 proteins enhance invasiveness in cells of some cancers, but suppress it in cells of others. Almost all of the proteins that show experimentally verified activation/inhibition effects on, or binding interactions with, each other are linked together in a single network, in a "hub-and-spoke" architecture. The accumulated data show trends that point to anticipated future results and highlight gaps in what is known about invasiveness signaling. Identification of cancer invasiveness signaling networks is important for combination and personalized targeted therapies of cancers.