Prediction of Drug Efficacy in Colon Cancer Preclinical Models Using a Novel Ranking Method of Gene Expression.

The presence of stromal cells in tumors is altering the significance of molecular profiling when using standard methods of gene expression quantification. We developed a novel normalization method to rank target gene expression in tumor samples by comparisons with reference samples representing the different cell types found in a tumor. The score for each target gene obtained after normalization, is aimed to be predictive of targeted therapies efficiency.

Current drug design to target the Semaphorin/Neuropilin/Plexin complexes.

The Semaphorin/Neuropilin/Plexin (SNP) complexes control a wide range of biological processes. Consistently, activity deregulation of these complexes is associated with many diseases. The increasing knowledge on SNP had in turn validated these molecular complexes as novel therapeutic targets.

Inhibition of PlexA1-mediated brain tumor growth and tumor-associated angiogenesis using a transmembrane domain targeting peptide.

The neuropilin-plexin receptor complex regulates tumor cell migration and proliferation and thus is an interesting therapeutic target. High expression of neuropilin-1 is indeed associated with a bad prognosis in glioma patients. Q-RTPCR and tissue-array analyses showed here that Plexin-A1 is highly expressed in glioblastoma and that the highest level of expression correlates with the worse survival of patients.

Transmembrane domain targeting peptide antagonizing ErbB2/Neu inhibits breast tumor growth and metastasis.

Breast cancer is still a deadly disease despite major achievements in targeted therapies designed to block ligands or ligand-binding subunits of major tyrosine kinase receptors. Relapse is significant and metastases deleterious, which demands novel strategies for fighting this disease. Here, we report a proof-of-concept experiment demonstrating that small peptides interfering with the transmembrane domain of the tyrosine kinase epidermal growth factor receptor ErbB2 exhibit anticancer properties when used at micromolar dosages in a genetically engineered mouse model of breast cancer.