Induction and/or maintenance of tumor dormancy by disruption of urokinase plasminogen activator receptor-integrin interaction

A method of disrupting interaction between integrin and urokinase plasminogen activator receptor on cancer cells comprising:

• contacting cancer cells with an effective amount of a compound having the following formula:
• wherein
• R2 is
• R3 is
• R1, R4, R5, and R6 are independently selected from the group consisting of hydrogen, —(CH2)nOH, —(CH2)nNH2, —(CH2)nNHCH3, —(CH2)nNHCH2CH3, —(CH2)n—COOH, halo, lower alkyl, haloalkyl, —(CH2)nSH, lower thioalkyl, —CN, lower alkoxy, and
• where n is an integer from 0 to 4, and pharmaceutically acceptable salts thereof.

A method of screening for compounds effective in inducing tumor dormancy and treating cancer in a subject, said method comprising:

• providing one or more candidate compounds;
• contacting the one or more candidate compounds with urokinase plasminogen activator receptor under conditions effective to disrupt interaction between integrin and the urokinase plasminogen activator receptor;
• and
• identifying candidate compounds which disrupt interaction between integrin and urokinase plasminogen activator receptor as compounds potentially effective in inducing tumor dormancy and treating cancer in a subject.