Netrins form a family of secreted and membrane-associated proteins, netrin-1 being the prototype and most investigated member of the family. The major physiological functions of netrin-1 lie in the regulation of axonal development as well as morphogenesis of different branched organs, by promoting the polarity of migratory/invasive front of the cell. On the other hand, netrin-1 acts as a factor preventing cell apoptosis. These events are mediated via a range of different receptors, including UNC5 and DCC-families. Cancer cells often employ developmental pathways to gain survival and motility advantage. Within recent years, there has been increasing number of observations of upregulation of netrin-1 expression in different forms of cancer, and the increased expression of netrin-1 has been linked to its functions as a survival and invasion promoting factor. We review here recent advances in the netrin-1 related developmental processes that may be of special interest in tumor biology, in addition to the known functions of netrin-1 in tumor biology with special focus on cancer cell migration.

中文翻译：

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Netrin-1：癌细胞运动的调节剂？

Netrins组成一个分泌和膜相关蛋白家族，netrin-1是原型，也是该家族中研究最多的成员。netrin-1的主要生理功能在于通过促进细胞迁移/侵袭前沿的极性来调节轴突的发育以及不同分支器官的形态发生。另一方面，netrin-1充当阻止细胞凋亡的因子。这些事件是通过一系列不同的受体介导的，包括UNC5和DCC家族。癌细胞通常采用发育途径来获得生存和运动优势。在最近几年中，越来越多的观察到在不同形式的癌症中netrin-1表达的上调，netrin-1的表达增加与其作为存活和侵袭促进因子的功能有关。我们在这里回顾了netrin-1相关发展过程的最新进展，除了在肿瘤生物学中netrin-1在肿瘤生物学中的已知功能（特别着重于癌细胞迁移）外，它在肿瘤生物学中可能引起了特殊的兴趣。