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Review
. 2023 Mar 10:11:1125801.
doi: 10.3389/fcell.2023.1125801. eCollection 2023.

Small molecules targeting endocytic uptake and recycling pathways

Giampaolo Placidi  1   2 , Clara Mattu  2 , Gianluca Ciardelli  2   3 , Carlo C Campa  1   4
Affiliations
Review

Small molecules targeting endocytic uptake and recycling pathways

Giampaolo Placidi et al. Front Cell Dev Biol. .

Erratum in

Abstract

Over the past years a growing number of studies highlighted the pivotal role of intracellular trafficking in cell physiology. Among the distinct transport itineraries connecting the endocytic system, both internalization (endocytosis) and recycling (endocytic recycling) pathways were found fundamental to ensure cellular sensing, cell-to-cell communication, cellular division, and collective cell migration in tissue specific-contexts. Consistently, the dysregulation of endocytic trafficking pathways is correlated with several human diseases including both cancers and neurodegeneration. Aimed at suppress specific intracellular trafficking routes involved in disease onset and progression, huge efforts have been made to identify small molecule inhibitors with suitable pharmacological properties for in vivo administration. Here, we review most used drugs and recently discovered small molecules able to block endocytosis and endocytic recycling pathways. We characterize such pharmacological inhibitors by emphasizing their target specificity, molecular affinity, biological activity and efficacy in both in vitro and in vivo experimental models.

Keywords: endocytic recycling; endocytosis; inhibitors; mechanism of action; small molecules.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

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Grants and funding

The research leading to these results has received funding from AIRC under MFAG 2020-ID. 24897 project–P.I. CC.