Epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) is the deadliest tumor among gynecological cancer in the industrialized countries. The EOC incidence and mortality have remained unchanged over the last 30 years, despite the progress in diagnosis and treatment. In order to develop novel and more effective therapeutic approaches, the molecular mechanisms involved in EOC progression have been thoroughly investigated in the last few decades. At the late stage, peritoneal metastases originate from the attachment of small clusters of cancer cells that shed from the primary site and carried by the ascites adhere to the abdominal peritoneum or omentum. This behavior suggests that cell-cell or cell-matrix adhesion mechanisms regulate EOC growth and dissemination. Complex downstream signalings, which might be influenced by functional cross-talk between adhesion molecules and co-expressed and activated signaling proteins, can affect the proliferation/survival and the migration/invasion of EOC cells. This review aimed to define the impact of the mechanisms of cell-cell, through cadherins, and cell-extracellular matrix adhesion, through integrins, on the signaling cascades induced by membrane receptors and cytoplasmic proteins known to have a role in the proliferation, migration and invasion of EOC cells. Finally, some novel approaches using peptidomimetic ligands to cadherin and integrins are summarized.
Keywords: adhesion; cadherin; epithelial ovarian cancer; integrin; invasion; migration; proliferation; signal transduction.