Co-treatment of PI3K inhibitors with temsirolimus, an optimized therapy in the treatment of cancers related to mTORs.

by Selleckchem | Nov 08 2011

     The mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) is a serine/threonine protein kinase that mediates cell growth, cell proliferation, cell motility, cell survival, gene transcription, and protein synthesis. In many human cancers, particularly those with loss of the tumor suppressor PTEN, dysregulation of the mTOR signaling can be observed, and activation of mTORs have shown the significant sensitivity to rapamycin.
     Besides rapamycin, RAD001(everolimus), AP23573 (ridaforolimus) and CCI-779 (temsirolimus) are also comfirmed to be the potent inhibitors of mTOR in vitro[1]. However, single inhibitor can only produce a certain degree of antitumor effects in the clinic, and may lead to acquired resistance by activating upstream mTORC2 and Akt after prolonged use. Therefore, researchers put more insights into how to optimize existing drugs and therapy, besides exploring novel drugs.
     The results in the paper by Yang and the partners provide us some clues about the subject. The data indicated that temsirolimus completely blocked phosphorylation of rS6, which is a downstream factor of mTORC1, in all the cells regardless of sensitivity, while sensitive and resistant cells showed the different Akt phosphorylation status that a compensatory increase in Akt phosphorylation was observed in sensitive cancer cells, but the primarily resistant cells demonstrated no Akt phosphorylation. However, BEZ235 (mTOR/PI3K inhibitor) and ZSTK474 (PI3K inhibitor) overcome the compensatory effect of Akt phosphorylation when used alone, and Co-treatment of BEZ235 or ZSTK474 with temsirolimus synergistically inhibit cell growth by inducing G1 cell cycle arrest, and promote cell death in cancer cell lines[2].
     Taken together, some PI3K inhibitors can overcome cellular resistance to mTORC1 inhibitors, thus co-treatment of BEZ235 or ZSTK474 with temsirolimus may be an optimized therapy in the treatment of cancers related to mTORs.

References
[1]. Sci Signal 2009 2: pe24.
[2]. PLoS ONE 6(10): e26343. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0026343

Cat.No.	Product Name	Information
S1039	Rapamycin	Rapamycin is a specific mTOR inhibitor with IC50 of ~0.1 nM in HEK293 cells.Rapamycin binds to FKBP12 and specifically acts as an allosteric inhibitor of mTORC1. Rapamycin is an autophagy activator and an immunosuppressant.
S1120	Everolimus	Everolimus is an mTOR inhibitor of FKBP12 with IC50 of 1.6-2.4 nM in a cell-free assay. Everolimus induces cell apoptosis and autophagy and inhibits tumor cells proliferation.
S1022	Ridaforolimus (Deforolimus, MK-8669)	Ridaforolimus (Deforolimus, MK-8669, AP23573) is a selective mTOR inhibitor with IC50 of 0.2 nM in HT-1080 cell line; while not classified as a prodrug, mTOR inhibition and FKBP12 binding is similar to rapamycin. Phase 3.
S1044	Temsirolimus	Temsirolimus is a specific mTOR inhibitor with IC50 of 1.76 μM in a cell-free assay. Temsirolimus induces autophagy and apoptosis.
S1072	ZSTK474	ZSTK474 inhibits class I PI3K isoforms with IC50 of 37 nM in a cell-free assay, mostly PI3Kδ. Phase1/2.
S1009	Dactolisib (BEZ235)	Dactolisib (BEZ235, NVP-BEZ235) is a dual ATP-competitive PI3K and mTOR inhibitor for p110α/γ/δ/β and mTOR(p70S6K) with IC50 of 4 nM /5 nM /7 nM /75 nM /6 nM in cell-free assays, respectively. Inhibits ATR with IC50 of 21 nM in 3T3^TopBP1-ER cell. Dactolisib induces autophagy and suppresses HIV-1 replication. Phase 2.