TLR/WNT: A Novel Relationship in Immunomodulation of Lung Cancer.

The most frequent cause of death by cancer worldwide is lung cancer, and the 5-year survival rate is still very poor for patients with advanced stage. Understanding the crosstalk between the signaling pathways that are involved in disease, especially in metastasis, is crucial to developing new targeted therapies. Toll-like receptors (TLRs) are master regulators of the immune responses, and their dysregulation in lung cancer is linked to immune escape and promotes tumor malignancy by facilitating angiogenesis and proliferation.

WNT/β-Catenin Pathway in Soft Tissue Sarcomas: New Therapeutic Opportunities?

Soft tissue sarcomas (STS) are a very heterogeneous group of rare tumors, comprising more than 50 different histological subtypes that originate from mesenchymal tissue. Despite their heterogeneity, chemotherapy based on doxorubicin (DXR) has been in use for forty years now and remains the standard first-line treatment for locally advanced unresectable or metastatic STS, although overall survival could not be improved by combination with other chemotherapeutics. In this sense, the development of new therapeutic approaches continues to be a largely unmatched goal.

Impact of Wnt/β-Catenin Inhibition on Cell Proliferation through Downregulation in Soft Tissue Sarcomas.

The Wnt signaling pathway is an important cellular mechanism for regulating differentiation processes as well as cell cycle events, and different inhibitors of this pathway, for example, PRI-724, are showing promising results in clinical trials for treatment of advanced pancreatic adenocarcinoma or ovarian cancer. Growing evidence suggests that Wnt signaling may also be crucial for tumorigenesis and progression of soft tissue sarcomas (STS), a malignant neoplasm with few therapeutic options at an advanced state. Our study with several STS cell lines and primary cultures shows that inhibition of Wnt/β-catenin signaling with PRI-724 is able to suppress cell viability/proliferation and to increase cell death rates.

Disruption of TCF/β-Catenin Binding Impairs Wnt Signaling and Induces Apoptosis in Soft Tissue Sarcoma Cells.

Soft tissue sarcomas (STS) are malignant tumors of mesenchymal origin and represent around 1% of adult cancers, being a very heterogeneous group of tumors with more than 50 different subtypes. The Wnt signaling pathway is involved in the development and in the regulation, self-renewal, and differentiation of mesenchymal stem cells, and plays a role in sarcomagenesis. In this study, we have tested pharmacologic inhibition of Wnt signaling mediated by disruption of TCF/β-catenin binding and AXIN stabilization, being the first strategy more efficient in reducing cell viability and downstream effects.

RG7112, a small-molecule inhibitor of MDM2, enhances trabectedin response in soft tissue sarcomas.

MDM2 is a critical negative regulator of the p53 tumor suppressor protein. Selected sarcoma subtypes are being treated with Trabectedin in second line, which promotes DNA damage and p53-dependent apoptosis. The aim of this study was to evaluate the improvement of Trabectedin response with MDM2 inhibitors in soft tissue sarcomas.

RG7112, a Small-Molecule Inhibitor of MDM2, Enhances Trabectedin Response in Soft Tissue Sarcomas.

MDM2 is a critical negative regulator of the p53 tumor suppressor protein. Selected sarcoma subtypes are being treated with Trabectedin in second line, which promotes DNA damage and p53-dependent apoptosis. The aim of this study was to evaluate the improvement of Trabectedin response with MDM2 inhibitors in soft tissue sarcomas.