Altered Cdc42 Signaling in Metastatic Breast Cancer Cells
Abstract
As research in the field of cancer treatment progresses, new therapeutics are continually being developed to fight cancer. Despite these advances, cancer metastasis remains a major obstacle to effective cancer treatment and the major cause of cancer mortality. Cancer metastasis is the process whereby cancer cells leave a primary tumor, enter the circulation, extravagate and proliferate at distant sites (Fidler et al., 1978). At a cellular level, the acquisition of a motile and invasive phenotype requires the abrogation of cell-cell contacts, the remodeling of the extracellular matrix, and changes in cell-matrix interactions, leading ultimately to the reorganization of the actin cytoskeleton and cell motility. A family of proteins called the Rho GTPases play major roles in regulating these very processes, including the regulation of the actin cytoskeleton leading to cell shape changes, the establishment of cell-cell contacts, cell-matrix interactions, and cell polarization (reviewed in Van Aelst et al., 1997). Because of the participation of the Rho GTPases in cellular processes involved in cell motility and migration, it is not unlikely that the aberrant regulation of the Rho GTPase signaling pathways may play critical roles in cancer metastasis. Thus, understanding the proteins that bind and regulate the Rho GTPases is critical to our understanding of cell motility as well as having exciting potential applications for cancer metastasis.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jul 01, 2002
- Accession Number
- ADA407624
Entities
People
- Dana M. Pirone
Organizations
- George Washington University