The potential use of the neurotensin high affinity receptor 1 as a biomarker for cancer progression and as a component of personalized medicine in selective cancers

A growing challenge in medicine today, is the need to improve the suitability of drug treatments for cancer patients. In this field, biomarkers have become the flags to provide additional information in tumor biology. They are a relay between the patient and practitioner and consequently, aid in the diagnosis, providing information for prognosis, or in some cases predicting the response to specific therapies. In addition to being markers, these tumor flags can also be major participants in the process of carcinogenesis. Neurotensin receptor 1 (NTSR1) was recently identified as a prognosis marker in breast, lung, and head and neck squamous carcinomas. Neurotensin (NTS) was also shown to exert numerous oncogenic effects involved in tumor growth and metastatic spread. These effects were mostly mediated by NTSR1, making the NTS/NTSR1 complex an actor in cancer progression. In this review, we gather information on the oncogenic effects of the NTS/NTSR1 complex and its associated signaling pathways in order to illuminate its significant role in tumor progression and its potential as a biomarker and a therapeutic target in some tumors. (C) 2011 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.