Validation of a preclinical model for assessment of drug efficacy in melanoma.

The aim of personalized medicine is to improve our understanding of the disease at molecular level and to optimize therapeutic management. In this context, we have developed in vivo and ex vivo preclinical strategies evaluating the efficacy of innovative drugs in melanomas. Human melanomas (n = 17) of different genotypes (mutated BRAF, NRAS, amplified cKIT and wild type) were successfully engrafted in mice then amplified by successive transplantations.

The tumor suppressor hTid1 inhibits STAT5b activity via functional interaction.

STAT5a and -5b (signal transducers and activators of transcription 5a and 5b) proteins play an essential role in hematopoietic cell proliferation and survival and are frequently constitutively active in hematologic neoplasms and solid tumors. Because STAT5a and STAT5b differ mainly in the carboxyl-terminal transactivation domain, we sought to identify new proteins that bind specifically to this domain by using a bacterial two-hybrid screening. We isolated hTid1, a human DnaJ protein that acts as a tumor suppressor in various solid tumors.

Stat5a serine 725 and 779 phosphorylation is a prerequisite for hematopoietic transformation.

Stat5 transcription factors are essential gene regulators promoting proliferation, survival, and differentiation of all hematopoietic cell types. Mutations or fusions of oncogenic tyrosine kinases often result in constitutive Stat5 activation. We have modeled persistent Stat5 activity by using an oncogenic Stat5a variant (cS5).

Oncogenic Kit controls neoplastic mast cell growth through a Stat5/PI3-kinase signaling cascade.

The D816V-mutated variant of Kit triggers multiple signaling pathways and is considered essential for malignant transformation in mast cell (MC) neoplasms. We here describe that constitutive activation of the Stat5-PI3K-Akt-cascade controls neoplastic MC development. Retrovirally transduced active Stat5 (cS5(F)) was found to trigger PI3K and Akt activation, and to transform murine bone marrow progenitors into tissue-infiltrating MCs.