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Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptors as Potential Tumor Biomarkers in Genitourinary Cancers: a Review Study

The genitourinary tissues express the different subtypes of nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs), which are involved in many physiologic and pathologic processes. New studies have indicated the significant role of nAChRs in multiple tumor-related properties in different types of malignancies. Genitourinary cancers (GUCs) represent a heterogeneous population of cancers, in both histology and approach to treatment. nAChRs are functionally expressed by a variety of immune cells, tumor cells, and tumor-associated cells in the microenvironment of GUCs. In the current review study, publications until May 2021 were included in the literature review to summarize the potential effects and clinical and experimental significance of nAChRs in GUCs pathogenesis. The results yielded substantial and some paradoxical evidence regard the role of different subtypes of nAChRs as potential regulators and predictive biomarkers for GUCs. The accumulated evidence demonstrated that nAChRs levels were increased in the GUCs samples, which provides clinically relevant information on utilizing nAChRs as a new biomarker to improve the prognosis of these cancers. Also, activation or blockade of these receptors may lead to different downstream signaling pathways and cause diverse effects. Regarding the significant global burden of GUCs, evaluation of these receptors and delineating their molecular mechanisms could enrich our understanding of the biology of GUCs and may have new opportunities for clinical impacts.