Transcriptomics profiling of the non-small cell lung cancer microenvironment across disease stages reveals dual immune cell-type behaviors.

Background: Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death worldwide, with poor survival despite recent therapeutic advances. A better understanding of the complexity of the tumor microenvironment is needed to improve patients' outcome.

Methods: We applied a computational immunology approach (involving immune cell proportion estimation by deconvolution, transcription factor activity inference, pathways and immune scores estimations) in order to characterize bulk transcriptomics of 62 primary lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) samples from patients across disease stages.

Fragment-Derived Selective Inhibitors of Dual-Specificity Kinases DYRK1A and DYRK1B.

The serine/threonine kinase DYRK1A has been implicated in regulation of a variety of cellular processes associated with cancer progression, including cell cycle control, DNA damage repair, protection from apoptosis, cell differentiation, and metastasis. In addition, elevated-level DYRK1A activity has been associated with increased severity of symptoms in Down's syndrome. A selective inhibitor of DYRK1A could therefore be of therapeutic benefit.

Structure-Guided Discovery of Potent and Selective DYRK1A Inhibitors.

The kinase DYRK1A is an attractive target for drug discovery programs due to its implication in multiple diseases. Through a fragment screen, we identified a simple biaryl compound that is bound to the DYRK1A ATP site with very high efficiency, although with limited selectivity. Structure-guided optimization cycles enabled us to convert this fragment hit into potent and selective DYRK1A inhibitors.

Combined Inhibition of PI3Kβ and mTOR Inhibits Growth of PTEN-null Tumors.

Loss of the tumor suppressor PTEN confers a tumor cell dependency on the PI3Kβ isoform. Achieving maximal inhibition of tumor growth through PI3K pathway inhibition requires sustained inhibition of PI3K signaling; however, efficacy is often limited by suboptimal inhibition or reactivation of the pathway. To select combinations that deliver comprehensive suppression of PI3K signaling in PTEN-null tumors, the PI3Kβ inhibitor AZD8186 was combined with inhibitors of kinases implicated in pathway reactivation in an extended cell proliferation assay.

LRP5 regulates the expression of STK40, a new potential target in triple-negative breast cancers.

Triple-negative breast cancers (TNBCs) account for a large proportion of breast cancer deaths, due to the high rate of recurrence from residual, resistant tumor cells. New treatments are needed, to bypass chemoresistance and improve survival. The WNT pathway, which is activated in TNBCs, has been identified as an attractive pathway for treatment targeting.

Functional significance of co-occurring mutations in and in breast cancer.

The PI3Kα signaling pathway is frequently hyper-activated in breast cancer (BrCa), as a result of mutations/amplifications in oncogenes (e.g. ), decreased function in tumor suppressors (e.

Inhibiting PI3Kβ with AZD8186 Regulates Key Metabolic Pathways in PTEN-Null Tumors.

PTEN-null tumors become dependent on the PI3Kβ isoform and can be targeted by molecules such as the selective PI3Kβ inhibitor AZD8186. However, beyond the modulation of the canonical PI3K pathway, the consequences of inhibiting PI3Kβ are poorly defined. To determine the broader impact of AZD8186 in PTEN-null tumors, we performed a genome-wide RNA-seq analysis of PTEN-null triple-negative breast tumor xenografts treated with AZD8186.

Structure-Based Design and Synthesis of Harmine Derivatives with Different Selectivity Profiles in Kinase versus Monoamine Oxidase Inhibition.

Dual-specificity tyrosine-phosphorylation-regulated kinase 1A (DYRK1A) is an emerging biological target with implications in diverse therapeutic areas such as neurological disorders (Down syndrome, in particular), metabolism, and oncology. Harmine, a natural product that selectively inhibits DYRK1A amongst kinases, could serve as a tool compound to better understand the biological processes that arise from DYRK1A inhibition. On the other hand, harmine is also a potent inhibitor of monoamine oxidase A (MAO-A).

Defining actionable mutations for oncology therapeutic development.

Genomic profiling of tumours in patients in clinical trials enables rapid testing of multiple hypotheses to confirm which genomic events determine likely responder groups for targeted agents. A key challenge of this new capability is defining which specific genomic events should be classified as 'actionable' (that is, potentially responsive to a targeted therapy), especially when looking for early indications of patient subgroups likely to be responsive to new drugs. This Opinion article discusses some of the different approaches being taken in early clinical development to define actionable mutations, and describes our strategy to address this challenge in early-stage exploratory clinical trials.

TIPIN depletion leads to apoptosis in breast cancer cells.

Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is the breast cancer subgroup with the most aggressive clinical behavior. Alternatives to conventional chemotherapy are required to improve the survival of TNBC patients. Gene-expression analyses for different breast cancer subtypes revealed significant overexpression of the Timeless-interacting protein (TIPIN), which is involved in the stability of DNA replication forks, in the highly proliferative associated TNBC samples.

Transcriptome analysis of Wnt3a-treated triple-negative breast cancer cells.

The canonical Wnt/β-catenin pathway is activated in triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC). The activation of this pathway leads to the expression of specific target genes depending on the cell/tissue context. Here, we analyzed the transcriptome of two different TNBC cell lines to define a comprehensive list of Wnt target genes.

S49076 is a novel kinase inhibitor of MET, AXL, and FGFR with strong preclinical activity alone and in association with bevacizumab.

Aberrant activity of the receptor tyrosine kinases MET, AXL, and FGFR1/2/3 has been associated with tumor progression in a wide variety of human malignancies, notably in instances of primary or acquired resistance to existing or emerging anticancer therapies. This study describes the preclinical characterization of S49076, a novel, potent inhibitor of MET, AXL/MER, and FGFR1/2/3. S49076 potently blocked cellular phosphorylation of MET, AXL, and FGFRs and inhibited downstream signaling in vitro and in vivo.

TTK/hMPS1 is an attractive therapeutic target for triple-negative breast cancer.

Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) represents a subgroup of breast cancers (BC) associated with the most aggressive clinical behavior. No targeted therapy is currently available for the treatment of patients with TNBC. In order to discover potential therapeutic targets, we searched for protein kinases that are overexpressed in human TNBC biopsies and whose silencing in TNBC cell lines causes cell death.

Polo-like kinase 1: a potential therapeutic option in combination with conventional chemotherapy for the management of patients with triple-negative breast cancer.

Breast cancers are composed of molecularly distinct subtypes with different clinical outcomes and responses to therapy. To discover potential therapeutic targets for the poor prognosis-associated triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC), gene expression profiling was carried out on a cohort of 130 breast cancer samples. Polo-like kinase 1 (PLK1) was found to be significantly overexpressed in TNBC compared with the other breast cancer subtypes.

Synthesis and pharmacological evaluation of thieno[2,3-b]pyridine derivatives as novel c-Src inhibitors.

Among the recently investigated targets for cancer therapy is the c-Src non-receptor tyrosine kinase. Indeed research around deregulated activity of this enzyme has proven its role in tumor progression, while the beneficial effects of c-Src inhibitors in several pathological models has also been demonstrated. We report here the preparation and pharmacological profile of a novel series of c-Src inhibitors that was elaborated around a 3-amino-thieno[2,3-b]pyridine discovered during an HTS campaign.

Specific oncogenic activity of the Src-family tyrosine kinase c-Yes in colon carcinoma cells.

c-Yes, a member of the Src tyrosine kinase family, is found highly activated in colon carcinoma but its importance relative to c-Src has remained unclear. Here we show that, in HT29 colon carcinoma cells, silencing of c-Yes, but not of c-Src, selectively leads to an increase of cell clustering associated with a localisation of β-catenin at cell membranes and a reduction of expression of β-catenin target genes. c-Yes silencing induced an increase in apoptosis, inhibition of growth in soft-agar and in mouse xenografts, inhibition of cell migration and loss of the capacity to generate liver metastases in mice.

Protein kinases: From targets to anti-cancer drugs.

Since the discovery of protein phosphorylation by E. Krebs and E. Fisher in the 1950s, protein kinases have been recognised as major players in cell signalling.

Src family tyrosine kinases-driven colon cancer cell invasion is induced by Csk membrane delocalization.

The nonreceptor tyrosine kinases of the Src family (SFK) are frequently deregulated in human colorectal cancer (CRC), and they have been implicated in tumour growth and metastasis. How SFK are activated in this cancer has not been clearly established. Here, we show that the SFK-dependent invasion is induced by inactivation of the negative regulator C-terminal Src kinase, Csk.

A novel non-phosphorylated potential antitumoral peptide inhibits STAT3 biological activity.

STAT3 (Signal Transducer and Activator of Transcription 3) is an SH2 (Src Homology 2)-domain containing transcription factor that plays a key role in cancer, by regulating as a dimer the expression of genes implicated in the main processes of the tumorigenesis. Therefore, STAT3 and more particularly its dimeric form has emerged as promising targets for cancer therapy. STAT3 dimerization occurs through reciprocal interaction between the SH2 domain of one monomer and the phosphorylated tyrosine residue of a second one.

Frequent PTEN genomic alterations and activated phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase pathway in basal-like breast cancer cells.

Introduction: Basal-like carcinomas (BLCs) and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 overexpressing (HER2+) carcinomas are the subgroups of breast cancers that have the most aggressive clinical behaviour. In contrast to HER2+ carcinomas, no targeted therapy is currently available for the treatment of patients with BLCs. In order to discover potential therapeutic targets, we aimed to discover deregulated signalling pathways in human BLCs.

Design, synthesis and evaluation of new 6-substituted-5-benzyloxy-4-oxo-4H-pyran-2-carboxamides as potential Src inhibitors.

Src family kinases (SFKs) are nonreceptor tyrosine kinases that are reported to be critical for cancer progression. Inhibiting the catalytic activity of these proteins has become one of the major therapeutic concepts in contemporary drug discovery. We report here the design and the synthesis of novel 6-substituted-5-benzyloxy-4-oxo-4H-pyran-2-carboxamides as potential inhibitors of Src kinase.

Synthesis, in vitro antiproliferative activities, and Chk1 inhibitory properties of indolylpyrazolones and indolylpyridazinedione.

The synthesis of 5-indolylpyrazol-3-one, 4-indolylpyrazol-3-one and 4-indolyl-pyridazin-3,6-dione is reported. Their Chk1 inhibitory properties have been evaluated and their in vitro antiproliferative activities toward three tumor cell lines: murine leukemia L1210, human colon carcinoma HT29 and HCT116 have been determined. 4-Indolyl-pyridazin-3,6-dione is inactive against Chk1 and exhibits weak cytotoxicities toward the tumor cell lines tested.