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Oncogenic effects of PAFR ligands produced in tumours upon chemotherapy and radiotherapy

Nature Reviews Cancer volume 17, page 253 (2017)Cite this article

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The Opinion article from Gabriel Ichim and Stephen W. G. Tait, 'A fate worse than death: apoptosis as an oncogenic process' (Nat. Rev. Cancer 16, 539–548; 2016)1, highlights intrinsic mechanisms of failure of commonly used cancer therapies that are heavily dependent on apoptosis. Homeostatic mechanisms are triggered by the presence of dying cells within tissues, favouring the survival of residual tumoural cells in the tumour microenvironment2. Understanding these homeostatic mechanisms will provide actionable targets to enhance the effectiveness of therapeutic strategies used in the clinic.

The presence of apoptotic cells with subtumorigenic numbers of mouse melanoma cells promoted tumour engraftment and growth, in a mechanism dependent on the recruitment of inflammatory cells3. In a separate study, it was shown that clearance of dying cells by tumour macrophages shifts them towards the pro-tumorigenic M2 phenotype by mechanisms involving the receptor for the lipid mediator platelet-activating factor (PAF), a member of the 1-alkyl,2-acylglycerophosphocholine subclass of lipids4.

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Figure 1: Pro-oncogenic effects of platelet-activating factor (PAF) and PAF-like molecules after a cell death stimulus.

References

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Acknowledgements

Funded by Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP, 2013/15719-0 and 2015/22814-5).

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  1. Roger Chammas and Luciana Nogueira de Sousa Andrade are at the Instituto do Câncer do Estado de São Paulo, Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil.,

    Roger Chammas & Luciana Nogueira de Sousa Andrade

  2. Sonia Jancar is at the Instituto de Ciências Biomédicas da Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil,

    Sonia Jancar

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  1. Roger Chammas
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  2. Luciana Nogueira de Sousa Andrade
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Correspondence to Roger Chammas.

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Chammas, R., de Sousa Andrade, L. & Jancar, S. Oncogenic effects of PAFR ligands produced in tumours upon chemotherapy and radiotherapy. Nat Rev Cancer 17, 253 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrc.2017.15

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