text: The growing knowledge behind the mechanism of autocrine signaling in cancer progression has revealed new approaches for therapeutic treatment. For example, autocrine Wnt signaling could provide a novel target for therapeutic intervention by means of Wnt antagonists or other molecules that interfere with ligand-receptor interactions of the Wnt pathway. In addition, VEGF-A production and VEGFR-2 activation on the surface of breast cancer cells indicates the presence of a distinct autocrine signaling loop that enables breast cancer cells to promote their own growth and survival by phosphorylation and activation of VEGFR-2. This autocrine loop is another example of an attractive therapeutic target.
  In HER2 overexpressing breast cancers, the HER2–IL-6–STAT3 signaling relationship could be targeted to develop new therapeutic strategies. HER2 kinase inhibitors, such as lapatinib, have also demonstrated clinical efficacy in HER2 overexpressing breast cancers by disrupting a neuregulin-1 (NRG1)-mediated autocrine loop.
  In the case of PDGFR signalling, overexpression of a dominant-negative PDGFR or application of the cancer drug STI571 are both approaches being explored to therapeutically interference with metastasis in mice.
  In addition, drugs may be developed that activate autocrine signaling in cancer cells that would not otherwise occur. For example, a small-molecule mimetic of Smac/Diablo that counteracts the inhibition of apoptosis has been shown to enhance apoptosis caused by chemotherapeutic drugs through autocrine-secreted tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNFα). In response to autocrine TNFα signaling, the Smac mimetic promotes formation of a RIPK1-dependent caspase-8-activating complex, leading to apoptosis.