Establishment of novel cell lines recapitulating the genetic landscape of uveal melanoma and preclinical validation of mTOR as a therapeutic target.

Uveal melanoma (UM) is the most common primary tumor of the eye in adults. There is no standard adjuvant treatment to prevent metastasis and no effective therapy in the metastatic setting. We have established a unique panel of 7 UM cell lines from either patient's tumors or patient-derived tumor xenografts (PDXs).

Management and outcome of 239 adolescent and adult rhabdomyosarcoma patients.

Adult rhabdomyosarcoma (RMS) is a rare tumor that has inferior outcome compared to younger patient population. The present work aims to study the age-related differences in management of adolescents and adults with RMS. Under an institutional review board-approved protocol, we retrospectively analyzed 239 patients, 10 years of age and greater, diagnosed with RMS at MD Anderson Cancer Center from 1957 through 2003.

SF3B1 mutations are associated with alternative splicing in uveal melanoma.

Unlabelled: Uveal melanoma, the most common eye malignancy, causes severe visual morbidity and is fatal in approximately 50% of patients. Primary uveal melanoma can be cured by surgery or radiotherapy, but the metastatic disease is treatment refractory. To understand comprehensively uveal melanoma genetics, we conducted single-nucleotide polymorphism arrays and whole-genome sequencing on 12 primary uveal melanomas.

Anti-tumor effects of the Notch pathway in gastrointestinal stromal tumors.

Gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs) are driven by gain-of-function mutations of KIT or PDGFRa. The introduction of imatinib has significantly extended survival for patients. However, most patients develop resistances.

The favorable impact of PIK3CA mutations on survival: an analysis of 2587 patients with breast cancer.

The phosphatidylinositol-3 kinase(PI3K) pathway regulates a number of cellular processes, including cell survival, cell growth, and cell cycle progression. Consequently, this pathway is commonly deregulated in cancer. In particular, mutations in the gene PIK3CA that encodes the p110α catalytic subunit of the PI3K enzymes result in cell proliferation and resistance to apoptosis in vitro and induce breast tumors in transgenic mice.

Synergistic induction of apoptosis by the Bcl-2 inhibitor ABT-737 and imatinib mesylate in gastrointestinal stromal tumor cells.

Background: Although imatinib mesylate has revolutionized the management of patients with gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST), resistance and progression almost inevitably develop with long-term monotherapy. To enhance imatinib-induced cytotoxicity and overcome imatinib-resistance in GIST cells, we examined the antitumor effects of the pro-apoptotic Bcl-2/Bcl-x(L) inhibitor ABT-737, alone and in combination with imatinib.

Methods: We treated imatinib-sensitive, GIST-T1 and GIST882, and imatinib-resistant cells with ABT-737 alone and with imatinib.