Angiogenesis and Tumor Suppression
The Robo4 receptor has been linked to angiogenesis in both mice and zebrafish. It is also present in human microvascular endothelial cells (HMVEC) and human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVEC). Exposure of Robo4 to Slit2 inhibits angiogenesis. However, exposure to a protein that inhibits Slit2 also inhibits angiogenesis. Due to these inconclusive results, the role of Robo4 in blood vessel growth is not completely understood.
Robo1 has been linked to cancerous tumor growth and suppression. The Slit2/Robo1 pathway has been associated with tumor angiogenesis, leading to subsequent tumor growth. Slit2 proteins have been identified in several varieties of tumors, including melanoma, breast cancer, small cell lung cancer, and bladder cancer. Furthermore, inhibition of the Slit2/Robo1 pathway via R5 and RoboN reduced tumor mass and volume, while also reducing microvessel density. However, Slit2 proteins have not been identified in all kinds of tumors, and other research suggests that Slit-2 expression may suppress tumors in small cell lung cancer and breast cancer.
Read more about this topic: Roundabout (gene), Clinical Applications and Areas of Research
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“Rationalists are admirable beings, rationalism is a hideous monster when it claims for itself omnipotence. Attribution of omnipotence to reason is as bad a piece of idolatry as is worship of stock and stone believing it to be God. I plead not for the suppression of reason, but for a due recognition of that in us which sanctifies reason.”
—Mohandas K. Gandhi (1869–1948)