PAK4-NAMPT Dual Inhibition Sensitizes Pancreatic Neuroendocrine Tumors to Everolimus.

Metastatic pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (PNET) remain an unmet clinical problem. Chronologic treatment in PNETs includes observation (watchful protocol), surgery, targeted therapy, and chemotherapy. However, increasing evidence illustrates that the outcomes of targeted therapeutic options for the treatment of advanced PNETs show minimal response.

Clinical translation of nuclear export inhibitors in cancer.

Clinical targeting of multi-dimensional proteins such as the proteasome has been efficacious in recent years. Inhibitors such as bortezomib and carfilzomib have been used successfully to treat multiple myeloma despite early skepticism surrounding unsubstantiated toxic side effects. Another target of this magnitude is ready to emerge as a clinically viable option for targeting various neoplasias.

Whole genome siRNA cell-based screen links mitochondria to Akt signaling network through uncoupling of electron transport chain.

Forkhead transcription factors (FOXOs) alter a diverse array of cellular processes including the cell cycle, oxidative stress resistance, and aging. Insulin/Akt activation directs phosphorylation and cytoplasmic sequestration of FOXO away from its target genes and serves as an endpoint of a complex signaling network. Using a human genome small interfering RNA (siRNA) library in a cell-based assay, we identified an extensive network of proteins involved in nuclear export, focal adhesion, and mitochondrial respiration not previously implicated in FOXO localization.

A structurally tunable DNA-based extracellular matrix.

The principles of DNA nanotechnology and protein engineering have been combined to generate a new class of artificial extracellular matrices. The potential of this material for ex vivo cellular scaffolding was demonstrated using experiments in which human cervical cancer cells were found to adhere strongly, stay alive, and grow with high migration rates. The use of DNA in our DNA/protein-based matrices makes these structures inherently amenable to structural tunability.