MINI REVIEW article
Front. Oncol.
Sec. Cancer Molecular Targets and Therapeutics
Volume 15 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fonc.2025.1683865
The Role of Apelin in Cancer
Provisionally accepted
- Imperial College London Department of Surgery and Cancer, London, United Kingdom
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Apelin is widely expressed in the body. Apelin is secreted as a propeptide and is proteolytically cleaved into six main isoforms. As an adipokine, apelin has a cardio-and neuroprotective role and is involved in angiogenesis in healthy tissue. Recently, numerous roles of endothelial cell-derived apelin on cancer cells have been uncovered, including angiogenesis, cell proliferation, and cellular invasion. Studies have reported elevated apelin levels in tumour tissue of cancer patients compared to healthy controls, highlighting its role in determining prognosis. Research suggests that inhibiting apelin reduces tumour invasiveness and angiogenesis and further mechanistic studies are required to realize the full potential of therapeutics targeting apelin in malignancy.
Keywords: Cancer, biomarkers, Cell Proliferation, Angiogenesis, Apelin
Received: 11 Aug 2025; Accepted: 03 Sep 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Agarwala and Sharma. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Rohini Sharma, Imperial College London Department of Surgery and Cancer, London, United Kingdom
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