An overview of the c-MET signaling pathway Organ, Shawna Leslie; Tsao, Ming-Sound
Therapeutic Advances in Medical Oncology,
11/2011, Volume:
3, Issue:
1_suppl
Book Review, Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Open access
c-MET is a receptor tyrosine kinase that, after binding with its ligand, hepatocyte growth factor, activates a wide range of different cellular signaling pathways, including those involved in ...proliferation, motility, migration and invasion. Although c-MET is important in the control of tissue homeostasis under normal physiological conditions, it has also been found to be aberrantly activated in human cancers via mutation, amplification or protein overexpression. This paper provides an overview of the c-MET signaling pathway, including its role in the development of cancers, and provides a rationale for targeting the pathway as a possible treatment option.
A minor population of cancer cells may evade cell death from chemotherapy and targeted therapy by entering a reversible slow proliferation state known as the drug tolerant persister (DTP) state. This ...DTP state can allow cancer cells to survive drug therapy long enough for additional mechanisms of acquired drug resistance to develop. Thus, cancer persistence is a major obstacle to curing cancers, where insight into the biology of DTP cells and therapeutic strategies targeting this mechanism can have considerable clinical implications. There is emerging evidence that DTP cells adapt to new environments through epigenomic modification, transcriptomic regulation, flexible energy metabolism, and interactions with the tumor microenvironment. Herein, we review and discuss the various proposed mechanisms of cancer persister cells and the molecular features underlying the DTP state, with insights into the potential therapeutic strategies to conquer DTP cells and prevent cancer recurrence or therapeutic failures.
The existence of an in situ phase of malignant mesothelioma has long been postulated but until recently has been impossible to prove. Here we describe ten patients with mesothelioma in situ, defined ...by a single layer of surface mesothelial cells showing loss of BAP1 nuclear immunostaining, no evidence of tumor by imaging and/or by direct examination of the pleura/peritoneum, and no invasive mesothelioma developing for at least 1 year. Nine cases were pleural and one peritoneal. Most patients were biopsied for repeated effusions of unknown etiology; in two patients mesothelioma in situ was found incidentally in lung cancer resections. In addition to surface mesothelium with BAP1 loss, one case had a surface papillary proliferation with BAP1 loss, and two cases had a small (few millimeter) nodule with BAP1 loss. CDKN2A was deleted by FISH in one of eight cases. Methylthioadenosine phosphorylase showed partial loss in the surface mesothelium by immunohistochemistry in three cases. Invasive malignant mesothelioma developed in seven patients with time between biopsy and invasive disease from 12 to 92 (median 60) months. Invasive mesothelioma has not developed in the other three patients at 12, 57, and 120 months, but the latter patient, who has pleural plaques, still has repeated pleural effusions, probably representing a so-called "benign asbestos effusion." We conclude that mesothelioma in situ, as diagnosed using the criteria outlined above, is associated with a high risk of developing invasive mesothelioma, but typically over a relatively protracted time, so that curable interventions maybe possible.
Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is the most common cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide. There is an unmet need to develop novel clinically relevant models of NSCLC to accelerate ...identification of drug targets and our understanding of the disease.
Thirty surgically resected NSCLC primary patient tissue and 35 previously established patient-derived xenograft (PDX) models were processed for organoid culture establishment. Organoids were histologically and molecularly characterized by cytology and histology, exome sequencing, and RNA-sequencing analysis. Tumorigenicity was assessed through subcutaneous injection of organoids in NOD/SCID mice. Organoids were subjected to drug testing using EGFR, FGFR, and MEK-targeted therapies.
We have identified cell culture conditions favoring the establishment of short-term and long-term expansion of NSCLC organoids derived from primary lung patient and PDX tumor tissue. The NSCLC organoids recapitulated the histology of the patient and PDX tumor. They also retained tumorigenicity, as evidenced by cytologic features of malignancy, xenograft formation, preservation of mutations, copy number aberrations, and gene expression profiles between the organoid and matched parental tumor tissue by whole-exome and RNA sequencing. NSCLC organoid models also preserved the sensitivity of the matched parental tumor to targeted therapeutics, and could be used to validate or discover biomarker-drug combinations.
Our panel of NSCLC organoids closely recapitulates the genomics and biology of patient tumors, and is a potential platform for drug testing and biomarker validation.
Autophagy is a highly conserved intracellular degradation process that plays a crucial role in cell survival and stress reactions as well as in cancer development and metastasis. Autophagy process ...involves several steps including sequestration, fusion of autophagosomes with lysosomes and degradation. Forkhead box O (FOXO) transcription factors regulate the expression of genes involved in cellular metabolic activity and signaling pathways of cancer growth and metastasis. Recent evidence suggests that FOXO proteins are also involved in autophagy regulation. The relationship among FOXOs, autophagy, and cancer has been drawing attention of many who work in the field. This study summarizes the role of FOXO proteins and autophagy in cancer growth and metastasis and analyzes their potential roles in cancer disease management.
The receptor tyrosine kinase c-MET and its ligand, hepatocyte growth factor (HGF), regulate multiple cellular processes that stimulate cell proliferation, invasion and angiogenesis. This review ...provides an overview of the evidence to support c-MET or the HGF/c-MET signaling pathway as relevant targets for personalized cancer treatment based on high frequencies of c-MET and/or HGF overexpression, activation, amplification in non-small cell lung carcinoma (NSCLC), gastric, ovarian, pancreatic, thyroid, breast, head and neck, colon and kidney carcinomas. Additionally, the current knowledge of small molecule inhibitors (tivantinib ARQ 197), c-MET/HGF antibodies (rilotumumab and MetMAb) and mechanisms of resistance to c-MET-targeted therapies are discussed.
New biomarkers are needed to detect pleural mesothelioma at an earlier stage and to individualize treatment strategies. We investigated whether fibulin-3 in plasma and pleural effusions could meet ...sensitivity and specificity criteria for a robust biomarker.
We measured fibulin-3 levels in plasma (from 92 patients with mesothelioma, 136 asbestos-exposed persons without cancer, 93 patients with effusions not due to mesothelioma, and 43 healthy controls), effusions (from 74 patients with mesothelioma, 39 with benign effusions, and 54 with malignant effusions not due to mesothelioma), or both. A blinded validation was subsequently performed. Tumor tissue was examined for fibulin-3 by immunohistochemical analysis, and levels of fibulin-3 in plasma and effusions were measured with an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay.
Plasma fibulin-3 levels did not vary according to age, sex, duration of asbestos exposure, or degree of radiographic changes and were significantly higher in patients with pleural mesothelioma (105±7 ng per milliliter in the Detroit cohort and 113±8 ng per milliliter in the New York cohort) than in asbestos-exposed persons without mesothelioma (14±1 ng per milliliter and 24±1 ng per milliliter, respectively; P<0.001). Effusion fibulin-3 levels were significantly higher in patients with pleural mesothelioma (694±37 ng per milliliter in the Detroit cohort and 636±92 ng per milliliter in the New York cohort) than in patients with effusions not due to mesothelioma (212±25 and 151±23 ng per milliliter, respectively; P<0.001). Fibulin-3 preferentially stained tumor cells in 26 of 26 samples. In an overall comparison of patients with and those without mesothelioma, the receiver-operating-characteristic curve for plasma fibulin-3 levels had a sensitivity of 96.7% and a specificity of 95.5% at a cutoff value of 52.8 ng of fibulin-3 per milliliter. In a comparison of patients with early-stage mesothelioma with asbestos-exposed persons, the sensitivity was 100% and the specificity was 94.1% at a cutoff value of 46.0 ng of fibulin-3 per milliliter. Blinded validation revealed an area under the curve of 0.87 for plasma specimens from 96 asbestos-exposed persons as compared with 48 patients with mesothelioma.
Plasma fibulin-3 levels can distinguish healthy persons with exposure to asbestos from patients with mesothelioma. In conjunction with effusion fibulin-3 levels, plasma fibulin-3 levels can further differentiate mesothelioma effusions from other malignant and benign effusions. (Funded by the Early Detection Research Network, National Institutes of Health, and others.).
Immune-checkpoint inhibitors targeting PD-1 or PD-L1 have already substantially improved the outcomes of patients with many types of cancer, although only 20-40% of patients derive benefit from these ...new therapies. PD-L1, quantified using immunohistochemistry assays, is currently the most widely validated, used and accepted biomarker to guide the selection of patients to receive anti-PD-1 or anti-PD-L1 antibodies. However, many challenges remain in the clinical use of these assays, including the necessity of using different companion diagnostic assays for specific agents, high levels of inter-assay variability in terms of both performance and cut-off points, and a lack of prospective comparisons of how PD-L1
disease diagnosed using each assay relates to clinical outcomes. In this Review, we describe the current role of PD-L1 immunohistochemistry assays used to inform the selection of patients to receive anti-PD-1 or anti-PD-L1 antibodies, we discuss the various technical and clinical challenges associated with these assays, including regulatory issues, and we provide some perspective on how to optimize PD-L1 as a selection biomarker for the future treatment of patients with solid tumours.
The prostate cancer (PCa) risk-associated SNP rs11672691 is positively associated with aggressive disease at diagnosis. We showed that rs11672691 maps to the promoter of a short isoform of long ...noncoding RNA PCAT19 (PCAT19-short), which is in the third intron of the long isoform (PCAT19-long). The risk variant is associated with decreased and increased levels of PCAT19-short and PCAT19-long, respectively. Mechanistically, the risk SNP region is bifunctional with both promoter and enhancer activity. The risk variants of rs11672691 and its LD SNP rs887391 decrease binding of transcription factors NKX3.1 and YY1 to the promoter of PCAT19-short, resulting in weaker promoter but stronger enhancer activity that subsequently activates PCAT19-long. PCAT19-long interacts with HNRNPAB to activate a subset of cell-cycle genes associated with PCa progression, thereby promoting PCa tumor growth and metastasis. Taken together, these findings reveal a risk SNP-mediated promoter-enhancer switching mechanism underlying both initiation and progression of aggressive PCa.
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•rs11672691 risk region is bifunctional with both promoter and enhancer activity•This SNP modulates the bifunctionality and reciprocal expression of PCAT19 isoforms•PCAT19-long interacts with HNRNPAB to activate a subset of cell-cycle genes•PCAT19-long regulates cell proliferation, tumor growth, and metastasis
Transcription factor binding site remodeling by a risk allele for aggressive prostate cancer results in conversion of a promoter to an enhancer with downstream consequences on long noncoding RNA isoform expression and oncogenesis.