09/05/2018
The ATX/LPA axis has been shown to be critically involved in several chronic inflammatory and fibroproliferative diseases, while ATX inhibition and LPAR1 antagonism have shown therapeutic potential in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, leading to ongoing clinical trials. Moreover, a role for ATX/LPA in cancer metastasis is also established. However, and although LPA effects in different cell types in vitro are well consistent with many of the suggested hallmarks of cancer, very few reports have revealed an in vivo role of ATX/LPA in carcinogenesis. In the present study, by using a combination of human data, animal modeling and cutting-edge methodologies, we show that ATX/LPA are also involved in lung carcinogenesis, thus expanding the mechanistic links of pulmonary fibrosis and cancer, while further revealing possible LPA effects in tumor metabolism, an emerging hallmark [PubMed].