Blog of Signaling Pathways

Inhibition of glioblastoma dispersal by the MEK inhibitor PD0325901

421 views | Aug 21 2019

Shannon S et al. showed that PD0325901 significantly increases aggregate cohesion, stiffness, and viscosity but only when tumor cells have access to high concentrations of fibronectin. Treatment also results in reorganization of actin from cortical into stress fibers, in both 2D and 3D culture. Moreover, drug treatment localized pFAK at sites of cell-substratum adhesion. Collectively, these changes resulted in increased strength of substrate attachment and decreased motility, a decrease in aggregate dispersal velocity, and in a marked decrease in growth rate of both 2D and 3D cultures. [Read the Full Post]

Alisertib demonstrates significant antitumor activity in bevacizumab resistant, patient derived orthotopic models of glioblastoma

547 views | Aug 20 2019

Kurokawa C et al. showed that alisertibdisplays significant antitumor activity against primary GBM lines and xenografts, including patient derived GBM lines resistant to bevacizumab; these data support clinical translation in GBM. [Read the Full Post]

Selective BCL-XL inhibition promotes apoptosis in combination with MLN8237 in medulloblastoma and pediatric glioblastoma cells

578 views | Aug 20 2019

Levesley J et al. indicated that selective small-molecule inhibitors of BCL-XL may enhance the efficacy of MLN8237 and other targeted chemotherapeutic agents. [Read the Full Post]

Allosteric inhibition of SHP2 phosphatase inhibits cancers driven by receptor tyrosine kinases

0 views | Aug 19 2019

Chen YN et al. demonstrated that pharmacological inhibition of SHP2 is a valid therapeutic approach for the treatment of cancers. [Read the Full Post]

Selective inhibition of EZH2 by EPZ-6438 leads to potent antitumor activity in EZH2-mutant non-Hodgkin lymphoma

658 views | Aug 19 2019

Knutson SK et al. indicated these data confirm the dependency of EZH2-mutant NHL on EZH2 activity and portend the utility of EPZ-6438 as a potential treatment for these genetically defined cancers. [Read the Full Post]

Notch signaling pathway is a potential therapeutic target for extracranial vascular malformations

1664 views | Aug 18 2019

Davis RB et al. showed that two gamma secretase inhibitors (GSIs), DAPT (GSI-IX) and RO4929097, cause dose-dependent inhibition of Notch target gene expression (Hey1) and rate of migration of monolayer cultures of lymphatic endothelial cells (hLECs) and blood endothelial cells (HUVEC). GSIs also inhibit HUVEC network formation. hLECs are more sensitive to GSIs compared to HUVEC. GSIs have been found to be safe in clinical trials in patients with Alzheimer's disease or cancer. Our results provide further rationale to support testing of Notch inhibitors in patients with extracranial vascular malformations. [Read the Full Post]

Alkylation of Staurosporine to Derive a Kinase Probe for Fluorescence Applications

682 views | Aug 18 2019

Disney AJ et al. reported that this fluorescein-staurosporine conjugate binds to cAMP-dependent protein kinase in the nanomolar range. Furthermore, its binding can be antagonised with unmodified staurosporine as well as ATP, indicating it targets the ATP binding site in a similar fashion to native staurosporine. This reagent has potential application as a screening tool for protein kinases of interest. [Read the Full Post]

PARP1 Inhibition Radiosensitizes Models of Inflammatory Breast Cancer to Ionizing Radiation

633 views | Aug 17 2019

Michmerhuizen AR et al. demonstrated that PARPi improves the effectiveness of radiotherapy in IBC models and provides the preclinical rationale for the opening phase II randomized trial of RT +/- PARPi in women with IBC [Read the Full Post]

Combined Strategies with Poly (ADP-Ribose) Polymerase (PARP) Inhibitors for the Treatment of Ovarian Cancer: A Literature Review.

496 views | Aug 17 2019

Boussios S et al. discussed multiple clinical trials that are underway examining the antitumor activity of such combination strategies. [Read the Full Post]

Clinical relevance of ticagrelor monotherapy following 1-month dual antiplatelet therapy after bifurcation percutaneous coronary intervention: Insight from GLOBAL LEADERS trial

685 views | Aug 16 2019

Kogame N et al. found that after PCI for bifurcation lesions using 1-month of DAPT followed by ticagrelor monotherapy for 23 months did not demonstrate explicit benefit regarding all-cause death or new Q-wave MI as in the overall trial. [Read the Full Post]

Brief Report: Rapid Acquisition of Alectinib Resistance in ALK-positive Lung Cancer with High Tumor Mutation Burden

525 views | Aug 16 2019

Makimoto G et al. found that high TMB and heterogeneous tumor evolution might be responsible for rapid acquisition of alectinib resistance. [Read the Full Post]

Gefitinib Versus Gefitinib Plus Pemetrexed and Carboplatin Chemotherapy in EGFR-Mutated Lung Cancer

750 views | Aug 15 2019

Noronha V et al. found that adding pemetrexed and carboplatin chemotherapy to gefitinib significantly prolonged PFS and OS but increased toxicity in patients with NSCLC. [Read the Full Post]

Yiqi Chutan Tang Reduces Gefitinib-Induced Drug Resistance in Non-Small-Cell Lung Cancer by Targeting Apoptosis and Autophagy

641 views | Aug 15 2019

Zhang J et al. provided a new treatment strategy for patients with EGFR-TKI resistance in NSCLC. [Read the Full Post]

Use of Antiplatelet Therapy/DAPT for Post-PCI Patients Undergoing Noncardiac Surgery

737 views | Aug 14 2019

Banerjee S et al. present3 commonly encountered clinical scenarios that lead into an evidence-based discussion of practical strategies for managing perioperative antiplatelet therapy in patients following percutaneous coronary intervention. [Read the Full Post]

Overview of CDK9 as a target in cancer research

443 views | Aug 13 2019

Morales F et al. concluded that there are many small molecules that bind to CDK9, but their lack of selectivity against other CDKs do not allow them to get to the clinical use. However, drug designers currently have the tools needed to improve the selectivity of CDK9 inhibitors and to make successful treatment available to patients. [Read the Full Post]

Doxorubicin as a fluorescent reporter identifies novel MRP1 (ABCC1) inhibitors missed by calcein-based high content screening of anticancer agents

471 views | Aug 13 2019

Sampson A et al. indicated mifepristone and doramapimod as pan inhibitors of these three drug transporters while celecoxib exhibited selective MRP1 inhibition. Together, our findings signify the importance of MRP1 in drug discovery and demonstrate the effectiveness and value of doxorubicin-based high content screening approach. Anti-cancer agents that exhibit MRP1 inhibition may be used to reverse multidrug resistance or to improve the efficacy and reduce the toxicity of various cancer chemotherapies. On the other hand, anti-cancer drugs that did not interact with MRP1 carry a low risk for developing MRP1-mediated resistance. [Read the Full Post]

First-in-human dose study of the novel transforming growth factor-β receptor I kinase inhibitor LY2157299 monohydrate in patients with advanced cancer and glioma

1184 views | Aug 12 2019

Rodon J et al. showed that on the basis of the safety, pharmacokinetics, and antitumor activity in patients with glioma, the intermittent administration of LY2157299 at 300 mg/day is safe for future clinical investigation. [Read the Full Post]

Efficacy of the CDK inhibitor dinaciclib in vitro and in vivo in T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia

0 views | Aug 12 2019

Moharram SA et al. identified the CDK inhibitor dinaciclib as a potential drug for T-ALL. Dinaciclib treatment significantly reduced cell viability and completely blocked colony formation. Furthermore, cells treated with dinaciclibshowed decreased expression of several pro-survival proteins including survivin, cyclin T1 and c-MYC. Dinaciclib treatment also increased accumulation of cells in G2/M phase and significantly induced apoptosis. Finally, dinaciclib extended survival of mice in a T-ALL cell xenograft model. Collectively, these data suggest that the CDK inhibitor dinaciclib is an active drug for T-ALL in the preclinical settings. [Read the Full Post]

The Wnt inhibitor LGK-974 enhances radiosensitivity of HepG2 cells by modulating Nrf2 signaling

528 views | Aug 11 2019

Tian D et al. found that HepG2 cells became more sensitive to radiation with increasing LGK-974 concentrations. Upon 2 Gy or 4 Gy irradiation, the cells treated with LGK-974 more frequently underwent apoptosis and grew less rapidly. PCR and western blot results showed that inhibiting the secretion of Wnt3A blocked the Wnt signaling pathway and prevented Nrf2 signaling. Notably, the Wnt inhibitor may serve as a radiosensitizing drug. [Read the Full Post]

Clinical development of galunisertib (LY2157299 monohydrate), a small molecule inhibitor of transforming growth factor-beta signaling pathway

511 views | Aug 11 2019

Herbertz S et al. summarized the past and current experiences with different pharmacological treatments that enabled galunisertib to be investigated in patients. [Read the Full Post]