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Updated: Mar 12, 2026

Characterization of Cell Membrane Extensions and Studying Their Roles in Cancer Cell Adhesion Dynamics
Published on: March 26, 2018
Adhesion GPCRs in Tumorigenesis
Gabriela Aust1, Dan Zhu2, Erwin G Van Meir2
1Department of Surgery, Research Laboratories, University of Leipzig, Liebigstraße 19, Leipzig, 04103, Germany. gabriela.aust@medizin.uni-leipzig.de.
Abstract:
Alterations in the homeostasis of several adhesion GPCRs (aGPCRs) have been observed in cancer. The main cellular functions regulated by aGPCRs are cell adhesion, migration, polarity, and guidance, which are all highly relevant to tumor cell biology. Expression of aGPCRs can be induced, increased, decreased, or silenced in the tumor or in stromal cells of the tumor microenvironment, including fibroblasts and endothelial and/or immune cells. For example, ADGRE5 (CD97) and ADGRG1 (GPR56) show increased expression in many cancers, and initial functional studies suggest that both are relevant for tumor cell migration and invasion. aGPCRs can also impact the regulation of angiogenesis by releasing soluble fragments following the cleavage of their extracellular domain (ECD) at the conserved GPCR-proteolytic site (GPS) or other more distal cleavage sites as typical for the ADGRB (BAI) family. Interrogation of in silico cancer databases suggests alterations in other aGPCR members and provides the impetus for further exploration of their potential role in cancer. Integration of knowledge on the expression, regulation, and function of aGPCRs in tumorigenesis is currently spurring the first preclinical studies to examine the potential of aGPCR or the related pathways as therapeutic targets.
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