Highlights on selected growth factors and their receptors as promising anticancer drug targets

Related Experiment Video

Updated: Oct 19, 2025

Utilizing Functional Genomics Screening to Identify Potentially Novel Drug Targets in Cancer Cell Spheroid Cultures
07:48

Utilizing Functional Genomics Screening to Identify Potentially Novel Drug Targets in Cancer Cell Spheroid Cultures

Published on: December 26, 2016

11.6K

Mohammed A Mansour1, Valentina S Caputo2, Eiman Aleem2

  • 1Cancer Biology and Therapy Lab, Division of Human Sciences, School of Applied Sciences, London South Bank University, London, UK; Biochemistry Division, Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Tanta University, Tanta 31527, Egypt.

The International Journal of Biochemistry & Cell Biology
|September 26, 2021
PubMed

Insights

Growth factor receptors (GFRs) and receptor tyrosine kinases (RTKs) are key proteins in cell regulation. Deregulation of GFRs drives cancer, leading to new targeted therapies blocking growth factor signaling.

Area of Science:

  • Oncology
  • Molecular Biology
  • Biochemistry

Background:

  • Growth factor receptors (GFRs) and receptor tyrosine kinases (RTKs) regulate vital cellular functions like growth, proliferation, and survival.
  • Dysregulation of GFRs and their signaling pathways, often through genetic mutations, is a hallmark of many human cancers, driving uncontrolled cell division.
  • Cancer cells exploit GFRs and their ligands to sustain rapid proliferation and metabolic reprogramming.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To review recent advances in understanding selected GFRs and their ligands in cancer.
  • To explore the structural and functional differences of GFRs and their roles in cancer development.
  • To discuss how GFR overexpression/hyperactivation contributes to cancer initiation, progression, and therapeutic resistance.

Main Methods:

  • Literature review focusing on recent advances in GFRs and their ligands in cancer.
  • Analysis of structural and functional differences of key GFRs.
  • Interrogation of the role of GFRs in cancer initiation, progression, and resistance to therapy.

Main Results:

  • GFRs and their ligands play a critical role in cancer cell proliferation, survival, and migration.
  • Overexpression and hyperactivation of GFRs contribute significantly to cancer development and progression.
  • GFR signaling pathways are implicated in resistance to conventional cancer treatments.

Conclusions:

  • Targeted therapies aimed at inhibiting GFRs and their downstream signaling pathways represent a promising strategy for cancer treatment.
  • Understanding GFR biology and ligand interactions is crucial for developing effective targeted anticancer agents.
  • Novel therapeutic approaches are emerging to block growth factor, GFR, and kinase activity in various cancers.
Keywords:
CancerGrowth factor receptorsGrowth factorsInhibitorsTyrosine receptor kinase

More Related Videos

Network Pharmacology Prediction and Experimental Validation of Trichosanthes-Fritillaria thunbergii Action Mechanism Against Lung Adenocarcinoma13:18

Network Pharmacology Prediction and Experimental Validation of Trichosanthes-Fritillaria thunbergii Action Mechanism Against Lung Adenocarcinoma

Published on: March 3, 2023

1.4K
A Flow Cytometry-Based Cell Surface Protein Binding Assay for Assessing Selectivity and Specificity of an Anticancer Aptamer10:46

A Flow Cytometry-Based Cell Surface Protein Binding Assay for Assessing Selectivity and Specificity of an Anticancer Aptamer

Published on: September 13, 2022

4.0K

Related Concept Videos

Mitogens and the Cell Cycle02:38

Mitogens and the Cell Cycle

Mitogens and their receptors play a crucial role in controlling the progression of the cell cycle. However, the loss of mitogenic control over cell division leads to tumor formation. Therefore, mitogens and mitogen receptors play an important role in cancer research. For instance, the epidermal growth factor (EGF) - a type of mitogen and its transmembrane receptor (EGFR), decides the fate of the cell's proliferation. When EGF binds to EGFR, a member of the ErbB family of tyrosine kinase...
7.2K
Targeted Cancer Therapies02:57

Targeted Cancer Therapies

The targeted cancer therapies, also known as “molecular targeted therapies,” take advantage of the molecular and genetic differences between the cancer cells and the normal cells. It needs a thorough understanding of the cancer cells to develop drugs that can target specific molecular aspects that drive the growth, progression, and spread of cancer cells without affecting the growth and survival of other normal cells in the body.
There are several types of targeted therapies against...
8.0K
Transducer Mechanism: Enzyme-Linked Receptors01:27

Transducer Mechanism: Enzyme-Linked Receptors

Enzyme-linked receptors are cell-surface receptors acting as an enzyme or associating with an enzyme intracellularly. They make excellent drug targets. Drugs can bind to the extracellular ligand-binding domain or directly affect their enzymatic domain and alter their activity.
Major types that are helpful drug targets include:
3.2K
mTOR Signaling and Cancer Progression03:03

mTOR Signaling and Cancer Progression

The mammalian target of rapamycin or mTOR protein was discovered in 1994 due to its direct interaction with rapamycin. The protein gets its name from a yeast homolog called TOR. The mTOR protein complex in mammalian cells plays a major role in balancing anabolic processes such as the synthesis of proteins, lipids, and nucleotides and catabolic processes, such as autophagy in response to environmental cues, such as availability of nutrients and growth factors.
The mTOR pathway or the...
3.9K
Abnormal Proliferation02:23

Abnormal Proliferation

Under normal conditions, most adult cells remain in a non-proliferative state unless stimulated by internal or external factors to replace lost cells. Abnormal cell proliferation is a condition in which the cell's growth exceeds and is uncoordinated with normal cells. In such situations, cell division persists in the same excessive manner even after cessation of the stimuli, leading to persistent tumors. The tumor arises from the damaged cells that replicate to pass the damage to the...
4.7K
Cancer-Critical Genes II: Tumor Suppressor Genes01:05

Cancer-Critical Genes II: Tumor Suppressor Genes

Genes usually encode proteins necessary for the proper functioning of a healthy cell. Mutations can often cause changes to the gene expression pattern, thereby altering the phenotype.
When the function of certain critical genes, especially those involved in cell cycle regulation and cell growth signaling cascades, gets disrupted, it upsets the cell cycle progression. Such cells with unchecked cell cycles start proliferating uncontrollably and eventually develop into tumors.
Such genes that act...
8.4K