Figure 7
Summary diagram of QS-13 binding and mechanism of action. The QS-13 peptide is located at the C-terminal extremity of the Tetrastatin or Non Collagenous (NC)-1 domain of the α4 chain from type IV collagen. QS-13 conformation was deducted from Molecular Dynamics simulation. Molecular docking experiments suggest the presence of 5 preferred areas of interaction (PAI-1 to PAI-5); 4 of them appear in red on αVβ3 integrin that is represented in blue and violet. Magnifications of PAI-1 allow to visualize QS-13 binding (up) or RGD binding (down) [20]. This explains that RGD pre-incubation abolishes QS-13 interaction with αVβ3 at the cell surface. QS-13 binding inhibits cell proliferation, migration and invasion through the FAK/PI3K/Akt pathway.
