Intracellular and extracellular TGF-ß signaling in cancer: some recent topics.

ABSTRACT

Transforming growth factor (TGF)-ß regulates a wide variety of cellular responses, including cell growth arrest, apoptosis, cell differentiation, motility, invasion, extracellular matrix production, tissue fibrosis, angiogenesis, and immune function. Although tumor-suppressive roles of TGF-ß have been extensively studied and well-characterized in many cancers, especially at early stages, accumulating evidence has revealed the critical roles of TGF-ß as a pro-tumorigenic factor in various types of cancer. This review will focus on recent findings regarding epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) induced by TGF-ß, in relation to crosstalk with some other signaling pathways, and the roles of TGF-ß in lung and pancreatic cancers, in which TGF-ß has been shown to be involved in cancer progression. Recent findings also strongly suggested that targeting TGF-ß signaling using specific inhibitors may be useful for the treatment of some cancers. TGF-ß plays a pivotal role in the differentiation and function of regulatory T cells (Tregs). TGF-ß is produced as latent high molecular weight complexes, and the latent TGF-ß complex expressed on the surface of Tregs contains glycoprotein A repetitions predominant (GARP, also known as leucine-rich repeat containing 32 or LRRC32). Inhibition of the TGF-ß activities through regulation of the latent TGF-ß complex activation will be discussed.