Abstract
Purines and pyrimidines are fundamental signaling molecules in controlling the survival and proliferation of astrocytes, as well as in mediating cell-to-cell communication between glial cells and neurons in the healthy brain. The malignant transformation of astrocytes towards progressively more aggressive brain tumors (from astrocytoma to anaplastic glioblastoma) leads to modifications in both the survival and cell death pathways which overall confer a growth advantage to malignant cells and resistance to many cytotoxic stimuli. It has been demonstrated, however, that, in astrocytomas, several purinergic (in particular adenosinergic) pathways controlling cell survival and death are still effective and, in some cases, even enhanced, providing invaluable targets for purine-based chemotherapy, that still represents an appropriate pharmacological approach to brain tumors. In this chapter, the current knowledge on both receptor-mediated and receptor-independent adenosine pathways in astrocytomas will be reviewed, with a particular emphasis on the most promising targets which could be translated from in vitro studies to in vivo pharmacology.
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Abbreviations
- ADA:
-
Adenosine deaminase
- Ado:
-
Adenosine
- AK:
-
Adenosine kinase
- APCP:
-
α,β-Methylene ADP
- 2-CA:
-
2-Chloro-adenosine
- 2-CdA:
-
2-Chloro-2′-deoxyadenosine
- CI-IB-MECA:
-
2-Chloro-N6-(3-iodobenzyl)-N-methyl-5′-carbamoyladenosine
- CNS:
-
Central Nervous System
- 8-CPT:
-
8-Cyclo-pentyl-theophylline
- DAG:
-
Diacylglycerol
- dCyd:
-
2′-Deoxycytidine
- ENT:
-
Equilibrative nucleoside transporter
- 18F-CPFPX:
-
8-Cyclopentyl-3-(3-18F-fluoropropyl)-1-propyl-xanthine
- GSK-3β:
-
Glycogen synthase kinase 3β
- HIF-1α:
-
Hypoxia-inducible factor 1 α subunit
- IFNγ:
-
Interferon-gamma
- Ino:
-
Inosine
- IP3 :
-
Inositol-1,4,5-trisphosphate
- ITub:
-
5-Iodotubercidin
- MAP kinases:
-
Mitogen-activated protein kinases
- MMP-9:
-
Matrix metalloproteinase-9
- MRS1220:
-
N-(9-Chloro-2-furan-2-yl-[1,2,4]triazolo[1,5-c]quinazolin-5-yl)-2-phenylacetamide
- MRS1706:
-
N-(4-Acetylphenyl)-2-[4-(2,3,6,7-tetrahydro-2,6-dioxo-1,3-dipropyl-1H-purin-8-yl)phenoxy] acetamide
- MTT:
-
3-(4,5-Dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide
- NECA:
-
N-Ethyl-carboxamide adenosine
- NTPDase:
-
Nucleoside triphosphate diphosphohydrolase
- PET:
-
Positron emission tomography
- PI:
-
Propidium iodide
- PI3K:
-
Phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase
- PKA:
-
Protein kinase A
- PKB/Akt:
-
Protein kinase B
- PKC:
-
Protein kinase C
- PLC:
-
Phospholipase C
- PLD:
-
Phospholipase D
- SAH:
-
S-Adenosyl-homocysteine
- SAM:
-
S-Adenosyl-methionine
- TNFα:
-
Tumour necrosis factor alpha
- VEGF:
-
Vascular endothelial growth factor
- zIETD-fmk:
-
z-Ile-Glu(OMe)-Thr-Asp(OMe)-fluoromethylketone
- zLEHD-fmk:
-
z-Leu-Glu(OMe)-His-Asp(OMe)-fluoromethylketone
- zVAD-fmk:
-
z-Val-Ala-Asp(OMe)-fluoromethylketone
- zVDVAD-fmk:
-
z-Val-Asp(OMe)-Val-Ala-Asp(OMe)-fluoromethylketone.
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Ceruti, S., Abbracchio, M.P. (2013). Adenosine Signaling in Glioma Cells. In: Barańska, J. (eds) Glioma Signaling. Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology, vol 986. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-4719-7_2
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