BioCentury
ARTICLE | Targets & Mechanisms

Breaking the code for AXL in metastasis

January 28, 2010 8:00 AM UTC

Researchers at the University of Bergen have shown that AXL receptor tyrosine kinase is a key regulator of metastasis and a strong predictor of poor overall survival in breast cancer patients.1 BerGenBio A/S has licensed the IP and is moving the work forward with target validation studies.

AXL receptor tyrosine kinase (AXL; UFO) is a member of the TAM family of receptor tyrosine kinases and has a history of associations with many aspects of tumorigenesis. Although studies have implicated AXL as a promoter of cell migration, invasiveness and disease metastasis in breast cancer,2-4 its functional link to key processes in metastasis has remained unclear...