Fibroblast Growth Factors and their Emerging Cancer-Related Aspects

Abstract

Fibroblast growth factors (FGF) are proteins that are involved in several biological and developmental processes. Cell proliferation, cell motility, cell survival, and angiogenesis are the fundamental mechanisms that are carried out by these growth factors. FGF ligands when to interact with their receptors-FGFRs, elicit certain signaling pathways that ultimately lead to precise regulated cellular responses. Alterations in FGF/FGFR signaling results in various types of abnormalities. The transition of normal signaling mode of FGFs/FGFRs to an unusual functional pattern causes neurological disorders, skeletal disorders, tumor progression and tumor neovascularization. Overexpression of FGFs and FGFRs has been correlated with advanced tumor forms, mainly prostate, mammary gland, bladder and renal cell carcinomas. These GFs and their receptors are among the fundamental mediators of tumor angiogenesis, others being VEGF, Ang-1, etc. Many pharmaceutical therapies have evolved in the past years to minimize the effects of FGF/FGFR and VEGF signaling, individually as well as simultaneously. Tyrosine kinase inhibitors are the most prominent compounds that have been investigated exclusively in phase I and II clinical trials. However, the applicability of developing therapeutic techniques needs a further illustration better to comprehend the complexity of the underlying mechanism and to provide patients with a better outcome