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Updated: Aug 18, 2025

In vitro Organoid Culture of Primary Mouse Colon Tumors
Published on: May 17, 2013
Short Linear Motifs in Colorectal Cancer Interactome and Tumorigenesis
Candida Fasano1, Valentina Grossi1, Giovanna Forte1
1Medical Genetics, National Institute of Gastroenterology-IRCCS "Saverio de Bellis", Castellana Grotte, 70013 Bari, Italy
Abstract:
Colorectal tumorigenesis is driven by alterations in genes and proteins responsible for cancer initiation, progression, and invasion. This multistage process is based on a dense network of protein-protein interactions (PPIs) that become dysregulated as a result of changes in various cell signaling effectors. PPIs in signaling and regulatory networks are known to be mediated by short linear motifs (SLiMs), which are conserved contiguous regions of 3-10 amino acids within interacting protein domains. SLiMs are the minimum sequences required for modulating cellular PPI networks. Thus, several in silico approaches have been developed to predict and analyze SLiM-mediated PPIs. In this review, we focus on emerging evidence supporting a crucial role for SLiMs in driver pathways that are disrupted in colorectal cancer (CRC) tumorigenesis and related PPI network alterations. As a result, SLiMs, along with short peptides, are attracting the interest of researchers to devise small molecules amenable to be used as novel anti-CRC targeted therapies. Overall, the characterization of SLiMs mediating crucial PPIs in CRC may foster the development of more specific combined pharmacological approaches.
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