Published in

American Association for Cancer Research, Clinical Cancer Research, 17(19), p. 4564-4569, 2013

DOI: 10.1158/1078-0432.ccr-12-1662

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Molecular Pathways: P-Rex in Cancer

Journal article published in 2013 by Atanasio Pandiella, Juan Carlos Montero ORCID
This paper is made freely available by the publisher.
This paper is made freely available by the publisher.

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Abstract

Abstract P-Rex proteins are Rho/Rac guanine nucleotide exchange factors that participate in the regulation of several cancer-related cellular functions such as proliferation, motility, and invasion. Expectedly, a significant portion of these actions of P-Rex proteins must be related to their Rac regulatory properties. In addition, P-Rex proteins control signaling by the phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K) route by interacting with PTEN and mTOR. The interaction with PTEN inhibits its phosphatase activity, leading to AKT activation. The interaction with mTOR may be important in nutrient-stimulated Rac activation and migration. In humans, several studies have implicated P-Rex proteins in the pathophysiology of various neoplasias. Thus, overexpression of P-Rex proteins has been linked to poor patient outcome in breast cancer and may facilitate metastatic dissemination of prostate cancer cells. In addition, whole-genome sequencing described P-Rex2 as a significantly mutated gene in melanoma. Furthermore, expression in melanocytes of mutated forms of P-Rex2 found in patients with melanoma showed the protumorigenic role of these P-Rex mutations in melanoma genesis. These findings open interesting opportunities for P-Rex targeting in cancer. Moreover, the implication of P-Rex partner proteins such as Rac, mTOR, or PTEN in cancer has opened the possibility of acting on P-Rex to restrict protumorigenic signaling through these pathways. Clin Cancer Res; 19(17); 4564–9. ©2013 AACR.