Role Of BDNF In Cancers

Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) is a member of the neurotrophin family of growth factors,and has a physiologically involvement in the differentiation, proliferation, and survival of neuralcells in both central and peripheral nervous systems. It has recently been shown that BDNF plays acritical role in cancer biology. The aim of this systematic review was to determine the extent ofBDNF association with different cancers. ISI Web of Knowledge, Science direct, PubMed, Scopus andGoogle Scholar were searched for related studies using the related keywords as: BDNF, TrkB,cancer, tumor, carcinoma, neoplasms. Relevant and available articles were selected for inclusion inthis study. Studies have shown that BDNF and TrkB receptors might be involved in cancer growth,metastasis, resistance to treatment in variety of malignant tissues, including pancreatic ductalcarcinoma, prostate cancer, ovarian cancers, lung cancer, hepatocellular carcinoma, non-small celllung cancer (NSCLC), colorectal cancer (CRC), bladder cancer, large cell neuroendocrine carcinoma(LCNEC), leukemia, gastric carcinoma, Wilm’s tumor, bone cancer, brain tumors, neuroblastoma,head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC), squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) of the uterinecervix, endometrial cancer, retinoblastoma, chronic myelogenous leukemia, glioma,medulloblastoma, chondrosarcoma, and breast cancer. BDNF may exert influence on differentcancers by different mechanisms. Identifying the function of BDNF in various cancers can be usefulto detect the disease, response to treatment as well as the identification of new therapeutic drugs.However, in addition to replication of findings in different populations, functional and clinicalstudies are still required for a better understanding of the involved specific pathways.