Figure 2.

A scheme illustrating intracellular signaling pathways that could be targeted with existing anticancer drugs in microglia in CNS metastases. Activation of integrins stimulates a focal adhesion kinase (FAK) which forms a complex with Src family kinases, which initiates multiple downstream signaling pathways through phosphorylation of other proteins. Among those pathways are phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI-3K), phosphatidylinositol-4,5-bisphosphate (PIP2), phosphatidylinositol-3,4,5-bisphosphate (PIP3), small G proteins (Rho, Rac, Cdc42), AKT/protein kinase B, ERK (extracellularly regulated kinase) and JNK (Jun N terminal kinase), and mTOR (mammalian target of rapamycin), all regulating different cellular functions. HDACs are histone deacetylases, epigenetic regulators that regulate histones, protein-DNA interaction, chromatin conformation, and transcription.