Cell Adhesion Receptors as Drug Targets

Cell adhesion receptors are transmembrane receptors that mediate cell adhesion to neighboring cells and to the extracellular matrix. The crucial role of adhesion receptors signaling in tumor cells as well as in stromal cells that support cancer growth, metastasis, and therapy resistance indicates that adhesion receptors signaling may be an attractive drug target for cancer therapy strategies.

Cell adhesion receptors are key sensors of cues that stem from the environment, thereby contributing to both the adhesive process and to transmission of signals that result in dependent cellular responses.

Indeed, adhesion receptors can modulate or activate intracellular signal transduction pathways in a number of ways, for example, by clustering in the membrane at adhesion sites, by recruiting and interacting with adaptor proteins or proteins that link adhesive structures to cellular cytoskeletal networks, or by directly activating enzymatic proteins at the inner surface of the plasma membrane. In addition to stimulating signal transduction pathways, adhesion receptors are themselves subject to regulation by intracellular signalling (often termed 'inside-out' signalling).