CXCR7-shRNA

CXCR7-shRNA is a gene therapy approach utilizing short hairpin RNA (shRNA) to silence the expression of CXCR7 (also known as ACKR3), an atypical chemokine receptor. CXCR7 is a G protein-coupled receptor that binds to stromal cell-derived factor-1 (SDF-1/CXCL12) and is highly expressed in various cancer cells. The shRNA works by inducing RNA interference to knock down CXCR7 expression at the mRNA level. In hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), CXCR7 knock-down has been shown to inhibit tumor cell proliferation, invasion, and metastasis by suppressing downstream signaling pathways including β-arrestin recruitment, ERK1/2 MAPK activation, and reducing expression of matrix metalloproteinase-2 (MMP-2) and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF). The therapy has been investigated using lentiviral vector-mediated delivery to achieve stable gene silencing in cancer cells. In preclinical HCC models, CXCR7-shRNA demonstrated improved efficacy when combined with transarterial chemoembolization (TACE), prolonging survival by reducing tumor invasion and metastasis. The mechanism involves disrupting CXCR7-mediated signaling which normally promotes tumor growth through β-arrestin 2 recruitment, heterodimerization with CXCR4, and scavenging of CXCL12.

Other names

CXCR7 shRNACXCR-7 shRNACXCR 7 shRNAshRNA targeting CXCR7CXCR7-targeted shRNACXCR-7-targeted shRNACXCR 7-targeted shRNA