Targeting Nuclear Receptors in Lung Cancer-Novel Therapeutic Prospects.

Lung cancer, the second most commonly diagnosed cancer, is the major cause of fatalities worldwide for both men and women, with an estimated 2.2 million new incidences and 1.8 million deaths, according to GLOBOCAN 2020. Although various risk factors for lung cancer pathogenesis have been reported, controlling smoking alone has a significant value as a preventive measure. In spite of decades of extensive research, mechanistic cues and targets need to be profoundly explored to develop potential diagnostics, treatments, and reliable therapies for this disease. Nuclear receptors (NRs) function as transcription factors that control diverse biological processes such as cell growth, differentiation, development, and metabolism. The aberrant expression of NRs has been involved in a variety of disorders, including cancer. Deregulation of distinct NRs in lung cancer has been associated with numerous events, including mutations, epigenetic modifications, and different signaling cascades. Substantial efforts have been made to develop several small molecules as agonists or antagonists directed to target specific NRs for inhibiting tumor cell growth, migration, and invasion and inducing apoptosis in lung cancer, which makes NRs promising candidates for reliable lung cancer therapeutics. The current work focuses on the importance of various NRs in the development and progression of lung cancer and highlights the different small molecules (e.g., agonist or antagonist) that influence NR expression, with the goal of establishing them as viable therapeutics to combat lung cancer.

Nuclear receptors in oral cancer-Emerging players in tumorigenesis.

Oral cancer has been a global concern for decades, with an estimated 377,713 new cases and 177,757 deaths worldwide, according to the GLOBOCAN 2020. Despite extensive research over the years, there is still a need to establish therapeutic targets to improve patient survival in oral tumorigenesis. Nuclear receptors (NRs) are transcription factors that regulate various biological processes such as growth, differentiation, development, and metabolism, and their aberrant expression has been reported in many diseases, including cancers. Deregulation of different NRs has been linked to various alterations such as mutations, epigenetic changes, and impaired signaling cascades by other proteins and molecules. Very few studies have shown the diagnostic and prognostic potential of NRs in oral cancer. These receptors have been targeted using a plethora of agonists and antagonists, leading to inhibition of tumor proliferation, migration and invasion, and inducing apoptosis, suggesting that NRs could serve as plausible targets for treating oral malignancies. In this review, we focus on the involvement of NRs in oral tumor pathogenesis and highlight the importance of targeting NRs using various agonists and antagonists that could serve as a potential strategy for the prevention and treatment of oral malignancies.