Oncotarget

Research Papers: Pathology:

Large set data mining reveals overexpressed GPCRs in prostate and breast cancer: potential for active targeting with engineered anti-cancer nanomedicines

Eric Kübler and Hugo Albrecht _

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Oncotarget. 2018; 9:24882-24897. https://doi.org/10.18632/oncotarget.25427

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Abstract

Eric Kübler1 and Hugo Albrecht2

1Institute for Chemistry and Bioanalytics, School of Life Sciences, University of Applied Sciences and Arts Northwestern Switzerland, Muttenz 4132, Switzerland

2Centre for Pharmaceutical Innovation and Development, Centre for Drug Discovery and Development, Sansom Institute for Health Research, School of Pharmacy and Medical Sciences, University of South Australia, Adelaide, SA 5001, Australia

Correspondence to:

Hugo Albrecht, email: [email protected]

Keywords: GPCR; cancer; nanocarrier; meta-data; targeted chemotherapy; Pathology

Received: March 01, 2018     Accepted: April 24, 2018     Published: May 18, 2018

ABSTRACT

Over 800 G-protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) are encoded by the human genome and many are overexpressed in tumors. GPCRs are triggered by ligand molecules outside the cell and activate internal signal transduction pathways driving cellular responses. The receptor signals are desensitized by receptor internalization and this mechanism can be exploited for the specific delivery of ligand-linked drug molecules directly into cells. Detailed expression analysis in cancer tissue can inform the design of GPCR-ligand decorated drug carriers for active tumor cell targeting. The active targeting process utilizes ligand receptor interactions leading to binding and in most cases internalization of the ligand-attached drug carrier resulting in effective targeting of cancer cells. In this report public microarray data from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) repository was used to identify overexpressed GPCRs in prostate and breast cancer tissues. The analyzed data confirmed previously known cancer receptor associations and identified novel candidates for potential active targeting. Prioritization of the identified targeting receptors is also presented based on high expression levels and frequencies in cancer samples but low expression in healthy tissue. Finally, some selected examples were used in ligand docking studies to assess the feasibility for chemical conjugation to drug nanocarriers without interference of receptor binding and activation. The presented data demonstrate a large untapped potential to improve efficacy and safety of current and future anti-cancer compounds through active targeting of GPCRs on cancer cells.


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