Abstract
Ixolaris is a tick salivary protein that binds to Factor Xa or Factor X as a scaffold for inhibition of the Tissue Factor (TF)/Factor VIIa (FVIIa). TF is not normally expressed in cells that are in direct contact with blood. However, TF is abnormally expressed under several pathological conditions, including inflammation, infectious diseases and cancer. It is known for decades that TF is a risk factor for metastasis, and in mouse models, TF drives metastasis in a coagulation-dependent manner. For these reasons, TF has recently been described as a potential target that can be exploited to image aggressive tumors. Ixolaris has been succcesfully used to treat some pre-clinical cancer models. It also has been shown its’ radiolabeling for diagnostic and therapeutic purposes. The aim of this article is to show that Ixolaris could be an interesting tool to diagnose cancer, and also treat it in a near future. Some key findings presented here are that TF has recently been described as a potential target that can be exploited to image aggressive tumors, once it is often associated with migration, invasion, proliferation, metastasis, the inhibition of apoptosis and the production of several pro-aggressive factors.