The neuropilin-plexin receptor complex regulates tumor cell migration and proliferation and thus is an interesting therapeutic target. High expression of neuropilin-1 is indeed associated with a bad prognosis in glioma patients. Q-RTPCR and tissue-array analyses showed here that Plexin-A1 is highly expressed in glioblastoma and that the highest level of expression correlates with the worse survival of patients. We next identified a developmental and tumor-associated pro-angiogenic role of Plexin-A1. Hence, by using molecular simulations and a two-hybrid like assay in parallel with biochemical and cellular assays we developed a specific Plexin-A1 peptidic antagonist disrupting transmembrane domain-mediated oligomerization of the receptor and subsequent signaling and functional activity. We found that this peptide exhibits anti-tumor activity in vivo on different human glioblastoma models including glioma cancer stem cells. Thus, screening Plexin-A1 expression and targeting Plexin-A1 in glioblastoma patients exhibit diagnostic and therapeutic value.
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Jacob, L., Sawma, P., Garnier, N., Meyer, L. A. T., Fritz, J., Hussenet, T., … Bagnard, D. (2016). Inhibition of PlexA1-mediated brain tumor growth and tumor-associated angiogenesis using a transmembrane domain targeting peptide. Oncotarget, 7(36), 57851–57865. https://doi.org/10.18632/oncotarget.11072