Targeting ecto-5′-nucleotidase: A comprehensive review into small molecule inhibitors and expression modulators

The purinergic signaling has drawn attention from academia and more recently from pharmaceutical industries as a potential therapeutic route for cancer treatment, since ATP may act as chemotactic agent and possess in vitro antineoplastic activity. On the other way, adenosine, produced in extracellular medium by ecto-5 '-NT, acts as immunosuppressor and is related to neoangiogenesis, vasculogenesis and evasion to the immune system. Consequently, inhibitors of ecto-5 '-NT may prevent tumor progression, reducing adenosine concentrations, preventing escape from the host's immune system and slowing cancer's growth. This review aims to highlight important biochemical and structural features of ecto-5 ' NT, highlight its expression profile in normal and cancer cell lines detailing compounds which may act as expression regulators and to review the several classes of ecto-5 ' NT inhibitors developed in the past 12 years, in order to build a general structure-activity relationship model to guide further compound design.

Automated summary

Purinergic signaling is being explored as a potential therapeutic approach for cancer treatment. ATP acts as a chemotactic agent and has in vitro antineoplastic activity, while adenosine functions as an immunosuppressor and is associated with neoangiogenesis, vasculogenesis, and evasion from the immune system. Inhibitors of ecto-5'-NT can prevent tumor progression, lower adenosine concentrations, and impede cancer growth by preventing immune system evasion.