Skip to main content
Fig. 1 | Journal of Biomedical Science

Fig. 1

From: Rab-mediated vesicle trafficking in cancer

Fig. 1

Schematic diagram showing the Rab proteins-mediated vesicular transport and signaling pathways in tumorigenesis. Rab family proteins play key roles in regulating cellular membrane trafficking including endocytosis, exocytosis, exosome secretion as well as vesicles delivery between organelles. All of these vesicles dynamics affects cellular physiology. Dysregulation of oncogenic Rabs at the protein levels or activity such as Rab1, Rab25 and Rab35 exerts tumor-promoting properties such as anti-apoptosis, increase in proliferation, invasion and migration through activation of various signaling pathways. For example, Rab2A facilitates Erk1/2 activation and thus leads to Zeb1 upregulation and β-catenin nuclear translocation, then promotes tumor initiation. In contrast, malfunction of tumor suppressor Rabs promotes oncogenesis and tumor progression. For example, Rab37 delivers its cargo TIMP1 to inhibit MMP9 activity leading to suppression of tumor motility, while loss of Rab37-mediated TIMP1 secretion promotes tumor metastasis. Arrows indicate vesicular movement regulated by Rab proteins. Thick arrows represent Rabs-mediated signaling pathways involved in tumorigenesis and tumor suppression. Note that some organelles and vesicles are relatively enlarged to emphasize the pathways involved

Back to article page