"Oncogene addiction" describes the curious acquired dependence of tumor cells on an activated oncogene for their survival and/or proliferation, a phenomenon that has important implications for the success of targeted cancer therapies. However, the mechanisms explaining oncogene addiction remain elusive. We propose that "addiction" may be an illusion generated as a consequence of differential attenuation rates of prosurvival and proapoptotic signals emanating from an oncoprotein acutely following its inactivation. According to this model, which we call "oncogenic shock," prosurvival signals dissipate quickly on oncoprotein inactivation whereas proapoptotic signals linger sufficiently long to commit the cell to an apoptotic death. This mechanism may contribute to the rapid and dramatic clinical responses observed in some cancer patients treated with selective tyrosine kinase inhibitors and could yield additional drug targets that determine the balance of signaling outputs from activated oncoproteins.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1158/1078-0432.CCR-06-0096 | DOI Listing |
EMBO Rep
March 2015
Department of Oncology, Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research, Cambridge, MA, USA
A key goal of cancer therapeutics is to selectively target the genetic lesions that initiate and maintain cancer cell proliferation and survival. While most cancers harbor multiple oncogenic mutations, a wealth of preclinical and clinical data supports that many cancers are sensitive to inhibition of single oncogenes, a concept referred to as 'oncogene addiction'. Herein, we describe the clinical evidence supporting oncogene addiction and discuss common mechanistic themes emerging from the response and acquired resistance to oncogene-targeted therapies.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFExp Cell Res
August 2013
Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of South Carolina School of Medicine-Greenville, Greenville, SC 29605. Electronic address:
Translation is mediated partly by regulation of free eukaryotic initiation factor 4E (eIF4E) levels through PI3K-Akt-mTOR signaling. Cancer cells treated with the plant-derived perillyl alcohol (POH) or the mechanistic target of rapamycin (mTOR) inhibitor rapamycin dephosphorylate eIF4E-binding protein (4E-BP1) and attenuate cap-dependent translation. We previously showed in cancer cell lines with elevated eIF4E that POH and rapamycin regulate telomerase activity through this pathway.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDasatinib is approved for the treatment of chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) in patients with resistance or intolerance to imatinib. This article reviews pharmacokinetic, pharmacodynamic, and clinical data on dasatinib, and highlights some of the most important issues that need to be addressed. Imatinib and dasatinib both target the tyrosine kinase activity of the BCR/ABL oncogenic fusion protein.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBiochem Pharmacol
September 2010
Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center and Harvard Medical School, 149 13th Street, Charlestown, MA 02129, USA.
Rational approaches to targeted cancer therapy have begun to predominate the pipelines of oncology drug development. Our rapidly increasing understanding of the "wiring" of tumor cells and the vulnerabilities of such cells that can potentially be exploited through targeted treatments has opened up enormous opportunities for improved therapies. Accumulating evidence suggests that many of these vulnerabilities reflect states of dependency or "addiction" that are unique to cancer cells (versus normal cells).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNeoplasia
May 2009
Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, Heidelberg, Victoria 3084, Australia.
A common mutation of the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) in glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is an extracellular truncation known as the de2-7 EGFR (or EGFRvIII). Hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) is the ligand for the receptor tyrosine kinase (RTK) c-Met, and this signaling axis is often active in GBM. The expression of the HGF/c-Met axis or de2-7 EGFR independently enhances GBM growth and invasiveness, particularly through the phosphatidylinositol-3 kinase/pAkt pathway.
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