Contribution of drugs acting on the TLRs/MyD88 signaling pathway on colitis-associated cancer

Toll-like receptors play a particularly significant role in colitis-associated cancer (CAC). MyD88 is the mediator in TLRs signal transduction process and it is indispensable for TLRs signaling except for TLR3. The conclusion of studies about the role of TLRs/MyD88 signaling in colon cancer remains contradictory: on one hand, TLRs/MyD88 signaling contributes to colon tumor cell proliferation, invasion and metastasis and inhibition of the expression of TLRs or MyD88 could prevent the growth of colon cancer cells; on the other hand, activation of the TLRs/MyD88 signaling pathway could inhibit the proliferation of colon cancer cells. This article is based on the expression levels of TLRs or MyD88 and the activation degrees of TLRs/MyD88 signaling pathway in different periods of colon cancer and, reviews the roles of TLRs/MyD88 signaling in the tumorigenesis and procession of CAC and the clinical application of agonists and inhibitor of TLRs or MyD88. This article is intended to explore the diverse roles of TLRs/MyD88 signaling pathway in CAC and to reveal the related molecular mechanism.