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MINI REVIEW article

Front. Immunol.
Sec. Cancer Immunity and Immunotherapy
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2024.1528478
This article is part of the Research Topic Immune-Cancer Cell Interaction View all articles

Ligands of CD6: Roles in the pathogenesis and treatment of cancer

Provisionally accepted
Mikel Gurrea-Rubio Mikel Gurrea-Rubio 1Feng Lin Feng Lin 2Max Seymour Wicha Max Seymour Wicha 3Yang Mao-Draayer Yang Mao-Draayer 4*David A Fox David A Fox 1*
  • 1 Division of Rheumatology, Department of Internal Medicine, School of Medicine, Michigan Medicine, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States
  • 2 Department of Inflammation and Immunity, Lerner Research Institute, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, Ohio, United States
  • 3 Department of Internal Medicine, School of Medicine, Michigan Medicine, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States
  • 4 Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, United States

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Cluster of Differentiation 6 (CD6), an established marker of T cells, has multiple and complex functions in regulation of T cell activation and proliferation, and in adhesion of T cells to antigen-presenting cells and epithelial cells in various organs and tissues. Early studies on CD6 demonstrated its role in mediating cell-cell interactions through its first ligand to be identified, CD166/ALCAM. The observation of CD6-dependent functions of T cells that could not be explained by interactions with CD166/ALCAM led to discovery of a second ligand, CD318/CDCP1. An additional cell surface molecule (CD44) is being studied as a potential third ligand of CD6. CD166, CD318, and CD44 are widely expressed by both differentiated cancer cells and cancer stem-like cells, and the level of their expression generally correlates with poor prognosis and increased metastatic potential. Therefore, there has been an increased focus on understanding how CD6 interacts with its ligands in the context of cancer biology and cancer immunotherapy. In this review, we assess the roles of these CD6 ligands in both the pathogenesis and treatment of cancer.

    Keywords: CD6, ALCAM (CD166), CD318, CD44, autoimme disease, Cancer

    Received: 14 Nov 2024; Accepted: 13 Dec 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Gurrea-Rubio, Lin, Wicha, Mao-Draayer and Fox. 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:
    Yang Mao-Draayer, Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation, Oklahoma City, 73104, Oklahoma, United States
    David A Fox, Division of Rheumatology, Department of Internal Medicine, School of Medicine, Michigan Medicine, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, 48109-5624, Michigan, United States

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.