Abstract
The Cellular communication network (CCN) family of growth regulatory factors comprises six secreted matricellular proteins that promote signal transduction through cell-cell or cell-matrix interaction. The diversity of functionality between each protein is specific to the many aspects of healthy and cancer biology. For example, CCN family proteins modulate cell adhesion, proliferation, migration, invasiveness, apoptosis, and survival. In addition, the expression of each protein regulates many biological and pathobiological processes within its microenvironment to regulate angiogenesis, inflammatory response, chondrogenesis, fibrosis, and mitochondrial integrity. The collective range of CCN operation remains fully comprehended; however, understanding each protein’s microenvironment may draw more conclusions about the abundance of interactions and signaling cascades occurring within such issues. This review observes and distinguishes the various roles a CCN protein may execute within distinct tumor microenvironments and the biological associations among them. Finally. We also review how CCN-family proteins can be used in nano-based therapeutic implications.
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Acknowledgements
We thank the members of the Kansas City VA Research Office and Midwest Biomedical Veteran’s Research Foundation. We greatly appreciate and recognize the developing research that propagates the complex understanding of the CCN family and its diverse role in oncology. Several graphs of this manuscript are created with BioRender.com
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Conceptualization, SKB and SB, writing and original draft preparation, LB; review and editing, SKB, SB, and MQ; design of figures, LB and SKB; funding acquisition, SKB, and SB. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.
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Birkeness, L.B., Banerjee, S., Quadir, M. et al. The role of CCNs in controlling cellular communication in the tumor microenvironment. J. Cell Commun. Signal. 17, 35–45 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12079-022-00682-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12079-022-00682-2