Signaling pathways involved in colorectal cancer progression

Zahra Koveitypour; Farnoush Panahi; Mehrdad Vakilian; Maryam Peymani; Farzad Seyed Forootan; Mohammad Hossein Nasr Esfahani; Kamran Ghaedi

doi:10.1186/s13578-019-0361-4

Signaling pathways involved in colorectal cancer progression

Cell Biosci. 2019 Dec 2:9:97. doi: 10.1186/s13578-019-0361-4. eCollection 2019.

Authors

Zahra Koveitypour^#¹, Farnoush Panahi^#¹, Mehrdad Vakilian^#^{2

3}, Maryam Peymani^{4

5}, Farzad Seyed Forootan^{5

6}, Mohammad Hossein Nasr Esfahani⁵, Kamran Ghaedi^{7

5}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Modern Biology, ACECR Institute of Higher Education (Isfahan Branch), Isfahan, Iran.
² 6Department of Cell Regeneration and Advanced Therapies, Andalusian Center for Molecular Biology and Regenerative Medicine (CABIMER), University of Pablo de Olavide-University of Seville-CSIC, Seville, Spain.
³ 7Department of Cellular Biology, Genetics and Physiology, Faculty of Science, University of Malaga (UMA), Malaga, Spain.
⁴ Department of Biology, Faculty of Basic Sciences, Shahrekord Branch, Islamic Azad University, P.O. Box: 88137-33395, Shahrekord, Iran.
⁵ 4Department of Cellular Biotechnology, Cell Science Research Center, Royan Institute for Biotechnology, ACECR, P.O. Box: 816513-1378, Isfahan, Iran.
⁶ Legal Medicine Research Center, Legal Medicine Organization, Tehran, Iran.
⁷ 3Department of Cell and Molecular Biology and Microbiology, Faculty of Biological Science and Technology, University of Isfahan, Isfahan, Iran.

^# Contributed equally.

Abstract

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the fourth leading cause of the worldwide cancer mortality. Different molecular mechanisms have been attributed to the development and progress of CRC. In this review, we will focus on the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) cascades downstream of the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), Notch, PI3K/AKT pathway, transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β), and Wnt signaling pathways. Various mutations in the components of these signaling pathways have been linked to the development of CRC. Accordingly, numerous efforts have been carried out to target the signaling pathways to develop novel therapeutic approaches. Herein, we review the signaling pathways involved in the incidence and progression of CRC, and the strategies for the therapy targeting components of signaling pathways in CRC.

Keywords: Colorectal cancer; EGFR; MAPK; Notch; TGF-β.

Publication types

Review