Inflammation and melanoma growth and metastasis: The role of platelet-activating factor (PAF) and its receptor

Vladislava Melnikova, Menashe Bar-Eli

Research output: Contribution to journalReview articlepeer-review

78 Scopus citations

Abstract

An inflammatory tumor microenvironment fosters tumor growth, angiogenesis and metastatic progression. Platelet-activating factor (PAF) is an inflammatory biolipid produced from membrane glycerophospholipids. Through the activity of its G-protein coupled receptor, PAF triggers a variety of pathological reactions including tumor neo-angiogenesis. Several groups have demonstrated that inhibiting PAF-PAF receptor pathway at the level of a ligand or receptor results in an effective inhibition of experimental tumor growth and metastasis. In particular, our group has recently demonstrated that PAF receptor antagonists can effectively inhibit the metastatic potential of human melanoma cells in nude mice. Furthermore, we showed that PAF stimulated the phosphorylation of CREB and ATF-1 in metastatic melanoma cells, which resulted in overexpression of MMP-2 and MT1-MMP. Our data indicate that PAF acts as a promoter of melanoma metastasis in vivo. Since only metastatic melanoma cells overexpress CREB/ATF-1, we propose that these cells are better equipped to respond to PAF within the tumor microenvironment when compared to their non-metastatic counterparts.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)359-371
Number of pages13
JournalCancer and Metastasis Reviews
Volume26
Issue number3-4
DOIs
StatePublished - Dec 2007

Keywords

  • CREB
  • MMP-2
  • MT1-MMP
  • Melanoma
  • Metastasis
  • Platelet-activating factor

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Oncology
  • Cancer Research

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Inflammation and melanoma growth and metastasis: The role of platelet-activating factor (PAF) and its receptor'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this