However, in cancers, apelin appears as a tumour growth stimulator, and its suggested role is as a marker in the diagnosis of tumour cancers in tissues.
Therefore, the apelin/apelin receptor signalling nexus may operate as a paracrine signal that sustains tumour cell expansion and progression, suggesting that apelin is a druggable factor in glioblastoma.
We also demonstrate that apelin overexpression in malignant cells is associated with accelerated in vivo tumor growth and with increased intratumoral lymphangiogenesis and lymph node metastasis.
In this study, we found that the novel peptide apelin and its receptor APJ can induce the morphological and functional maturation of blood vessels in tumors.