FNIII14 is a peptide derived from the 14th fibronectin type III-like (FN-III) repeat of fibronectin, a functional site usually hidden but exposed by conformational changes and proteolytic cleavage. FNIII14 can switch beta1- integrin from the active to the inactive form, resulting in functional inactivation of integrin signalling by a mechanism distinct from that of conventional antagonists. Inactivation of beta1-integrins by peptide FNIII14 exerts potent anti-cancer effects in various solid tumours and hematologic malignancies both in vitro and in vivo, including suppression of survival, proliferation, migration, invasion and myc expression, potentiation of other anti cancer activity, inhibition of metastasis, disuption of cell adhesion mediated drug resistance to cytosine arabinoside and suppression of tumour onset.
