Epigenetically Controlled Fibroblast Growth Factor Receptor 2 Signaling Imposes on the RAS/BRAF/Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinase Pathway to Modulate Thyroid Cancer Progression

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
Fibroblast growth factor (FGF) signals play fundamental roles in development and tumorigenesis. Thyroid cancer is an example of a tumor with nonoverlapping genetic mutations that up-regulate mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK). Here, we show that FGF receptor 1 (FGFR1), which is expressed mainly in neoplastic thyroid cells, propagates MAPK activation and promotes tumor progression. In contrast, FGFR2 is down-regulated in neoplastic thyroid cells through DNA promoter methylation. Reexpression of FGFR2 competes with FGFR1 for the immediate substrate FGFR substrate 2 to impede signaling upstream of the BRAF/MAPK pathway. These data unmask an epigenetically controlled FGFR2 signal that imposes precisely on the intragenically modified BRAF/MAPK pathway to modulate thyroid cancer behavior. [Cancer Res 2007;67(11):5461–70]

This publication has 38 references indexed in Scilit: