Several tyrosine kinases (ie, EGFR, FGFR, PDGFR, VEGFR), are aberrantly activated in most common tumors, including leukemia, glioblastoma, gastrointestinal stromal tumors, non-small-cell lung cancer, and head and neck cancers.
Flk1(+)CD31(-)CD34(-) MSCs that express BCR/ABL leukemia oncogene are hemangioblasts and they have a critical role in the progression of CML through PI3K/Akt/NF-κB signaling pathway.
Flk1(+)CD31(-)CD34(-) MSCs that express BCR/ABL leukemia oncogene are CSCs of CML and they play a critical role in the progression of CML through PI3K/Akt/NF-κB/MMP-9/s-ICAM-1/s-KitL signaling pathway beyond HSCs.
As for downstream signals, we have shown that VEGFR2 transduce growth and survival signals through phosphorylation of Akt and MEK in leukemia cells (Kasumi-1).