Citation

Malone CF, Emerson C, Ingraham R, Barbosa W, Guerra S, Yoon H, Liu LL, Michor F, Haigis M, Macleod KF, Maertens O, Cichowski K. 2017. mTOR and HDAC Inhibitors Converge on the TXNIP/Thioredoxin Pathway to Cause Catastrophic Oxidative Stress and Regression of RAS-Driven Tumors. Cancer discovery. 7(12):1450-1463. Pubmed: 28963352 DOI:10.1158/2159-8290.CD-17-0177

Abstract

Although agents that inhibit specific oncogenic kinases have been successful in a subset of cancers, there are currently few treatment options for malignancies that lack a targetable oncogenic driver. Nevertheless, during tumor evolution cancers engage a variety of protective pathways, which may provide alternative actionable dependencies. Here, we identify a promising combination therapy that kills -mutant tumors by triggering catastrophic oxidative stress. Specifically, we show that mTOR and HDAC inhibitors kill aggressive nervous system malignancies and shrink tumors by converging on the TXNIP/thioredoxin antioxidant pathway, through cooperative effects on chromatin and transcription. Accordingly, TXNIP triggers cell death by inhibiting thioredoxin and activating apoptosis signal-regulating kinase 1 (ASK1). Moreover, this drug combination also kills -mutant and -mutant non-small cell lung cancers. Together, these studies identify a promising therapeutic combination for several currently untreatable malignancies and reveal a protective nodal point of convergence between these important epigenetic and oncogenic enzymes. There are no effective therapies for - or -mutant cancers. We show that combined mTOR/HDAC inhibitors kill these RAS-driven tumors by causing catastrophic oxidative stress. This study identifies a promising therapeutic combination and demonstrates that selective enhancement of oxidative stress may be more broadly exploited for developing cancer therapies. .
©2017 American Association for Cancer Research.

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Franziska Michor uses the tools of theoretical evolutionary biology, applied mathematics, statistics, and computational biology to address important questions in cancer research.

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