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Updated: Nov 7, 2025

Generation of Organ-conditioned Media and Applications for Studying Organ-specific Influences on Breast Cancer Metastatic Behavior
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The Context-Dependent Impact of Integrin-Associated CD151 and Other Tetraspanins on Cancer Development and
Sonia Erfani1,2,3, Hui Hua4,5, Yueyin Pan4,5
1Department of Pharmacology and Nutritional Sciences, College of Medicine, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40536, USA.
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.
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