Blockade of the ERK pathway enhances the therapeutic efficacy of the histone deacetylase inhibitor MS-275 in human tumor xenograft models.

The ERK pathway is up-regulated in various human cancers and represents a prime target for mechanism-based approaches to cancer treatment. Specific blockade of the ERK pathway alone induces mostly cytostatic rather than pro-apoptotic effects, however, resulting in a limited therapeutic efficacy of the ERK kinase (MEK) inhibitors. We previously showed that MEK inhibitors markedly enhance the ability of histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitors to induce apoptosis in tumor cells with constitutive ERK pathway activation in vitro.