Deregulated BCL-2 family proteins impact on repair of DNA double-strand breaks and are targets to overcome radioresistance in lung cancer.

Purpose: DNA damage-induced cell death is a major effector mechanism of radiotherapy. Aberrant expression of anti-apoptotic BCL-2 family proteins is frequently observed in lung cancers. Against this background, we studied radioresistance mediated by BCL-2 family proteins at the mechanistic level and its potential as target for radiochemotherapy.

RIO kinase 3 acts as a SUFU-dependent positive regulator of Hedgehog signaling.

Suppressor of fused (SUFU) is an essential negative regulator of the mammalian Hedgehog (HH) signaling pathway and its loss is associated with cancer development. On a cellular level, endogenous SUFU can mainly be detected in the cytoplasm and the nucleus. However, immunostaining of pancreatic cancer specimen revealed the existence of cell types showing selective enrichment of endogenous SUFU in the nucleus.