Extracellular ATP and adenosine in tumor microenvironment: roles in epithelial-mesenchymal transition, cell migration and invasion

ALVAREZ CL; TRONCOSO MF; ESPELT MV

JOURNAL OF CELLULAR PHYSIOLOGY

WILEY-LISS, DIV JOHN WILEY & SONS INC

Lugar: New York; Año: 2022 vol. 237 p. 389 - 400

0021-9541

Under nonpathological conditions, the extracellular nucleotide concentrationremains constant and low (nM range) because of a close balance between ATPrelease and ATP consumption. This balance is completely altered in cancer disease.Adenine and uridine nucleotides are found in the extracellular space oftumors in high millimolar (mM) concentrations acting as extracellular signalingmolecules. In general, although uridine nucleotides may be involved in differenttumor cell responses, purinergic signaling in cancer is preferentially focused onadenine nucleotides and nucleosides. Extracellular ATP can bind to specific receptors(P receptors) triggering different responses, or it can be hydrolyzed byectoenzymes bound to cell membranes to render the final product adenosine. Thelatter pathway plays an important role in the increase of adenosine in tumormicroenvironment. In this study, we will focus on extracellular ATP and adenosine,their effects acting as ligands of specific receptors, activating ectoenzymes,and promoting epithelial?mesenchymal transition, migration, and invasion incancer cells. Finding the roles that these nucleotides play in tumor microenvironmentmay be important to design new intervention strategies in cancertherapies.