Participation of adhesion molecules in changing cell interactions during metastasis development

Abstract

The review summarizes current information about the role and significance of adhesion molecules in the process of tumor metastasis. For example, different tumors is shown that changes in the expression of adhesion molecules leads to disruption of the regulatory interactions in the processes of proliferation, cytodifferentiation and migration of tumor cells, enables the cascade of pathological processes leading to the colonization of other tumor cells remote from the tumor bodies. The phenomenology of tumor development and metastasis is shown. The participation of the main groups of adhesion molecules (cadherins, integrins, selectins, immunoglobulins and white blood cell homing receptors) at the stages of metastasis is considered. A violation of cadherin expression is accompanied by a decrease in the expression of integrins involved in the formation of hemidesmosomes, while a cascade of reactions develops that contributes to the development of an aggressive malignant phenotype, cells acquire an increased ability to migrate and invade, resulting in the appearance of a tumor in secondary foci. The role of immunoglobulins in the development of metastatic process has been studied in less detail than in cadherins and integrins. It was found that immunoglobulins are involved in the formation of resistance of tumor cells to proapoptotic signals. Immunoglobulins increase the expression of metalloproteinase genes involved in the degradation of the extracellular matrix, which is a factor in the initiation of metastasis. A correlation between increased selectin expression and increased metastasis is shown. An increase in the expression level of white blood cell homing receptors leads to an increase in the invasive potential of tumors. The results of the study of cell adhesion proteins serve as a fundamental basis for the development of methods of antitumor therapy. Over the past decades, a number of immunohistochemical protein detection reactions have become one of the diagnostic methods of cancer clinics. However, the role of cell adhesion molecules in ensuring the metastasis process, as well as their significance in the prognosis of the development of the tumor process and antitumor therapy, needs to be further studied.