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The P2X7 purinergic receptor: a potential therapeutic target for lung cancer

  • Review – Cancer Research
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Abstract

Purpose

Purinergic P2X7 receptor (P2X7R) is a gated ion channel for which adenosine triphosphate (ATP) is a ligand. Activated P2X7R is widely expressed in a variety of immune cells and tissues and is involved in a variety of physiological and pathological processes. Studies have confirmed that P2X7R is involved in the regulation of tumor cell growth, stimulating cell proliferation or inducing apoptosis. Recent studies have found that P2X7R is abnormally expressed in lung cancer and is closely related to the carcinogenesis and development of lung cancer. In this paper, we comprehensively describe the structure, function, and genetic polymorphisms of P2X7R. In particular, the role and therapeutic potential of P2X7R in lung cancer are discussed to provide new targets and new strategies for the treatment and prognosis of clinical lung cancer.

Methods

The relevant literature on P2X7R and lung cancer from PubMed databases is reviewed in this article.

Results

P2X7R regulates the function of lung cancer cells by activating multiple intracellular signaling pathways (such as the JNK, Rho, HMGB1 and EMT pathways), thereby affecting cell survival, growth, invasion, and metastasis and patient prognosis. Targeting P2X7R with inhibitors effectively suppresses the growth and metastasis of lung cancer cells.

Conclusion

In summary, P2X7R is expected to become a potential target for the treatment of lung cancer, and more clinical research is needed in the future to explore the effectiveness of P2X7R antagonists as treatments.

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Funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (no. 81770915 and 81301737) and the Major Program of Shandong Province Natural Science Foundation (no. ZR2018ZC1054).

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Correspondence to **aoxiang Peng or Ronglan Zhao.

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The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

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This article does not contain any studies with human participants or animals performed by any of the authors.

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Patients have not been involved in the study.

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Li, Q., Zhu, X., Song, W. et al. The P2X7 purinergic receptor: a potential therapeutic target for lung cancer. J Cancer Res Clin Oncol 146, 2731–2741 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00432-020-03379-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00432-020-03379-4

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