SUMMARY A small molecule that safely mimics the ability of dietary restriction (DR) to delay age-related diseases in laboratory animals is greatly sought after. We and others have shown that resveratrol mimics effects of DR in lower organisms. In mice, we find that resveratrol induces gene expression patterns in multiple tissues that parallel those induced by DR and every-other-day feeding. Moreover, resveratrol-fed elderly mice show a marked reduction in signs of aging including reduced albuminuria, decreased inflammation and apoptosis in the vascular endothelium, increased aortic elasticity, greater motor coordination, reduced cataract formation, and preserved bone mineral density. However, mice fed a standard diet did not live longer when treated with resveratrol beginning at 12 months of age. Our findings indicate that resveratrol treatment has a range of beneficial effects in mice but does not increase the longevity of ad libitum-fed animals when started mid-life.

The RNA‐binding protein HuR regulates the stability and translation of numerous mRNAs encoding stress‐response and proliferative proteins. Although its post‐transcriptional influence has been linked primarily to its cytoplasmic translocation, here we report that moderate heat shock (HS) potently reduces HuR levels, thereby altering the expression of HuR target mRNAs. HS did not change HuR mRNA levels or de novo translation, but instead reduced HuR protein stability. Supporting the involvement of the ubiquitin–proteasome system in this process were results showing that (1) HuR was ubiquitinated in vitro and in intact cells, (2) proteasome inhibition increased HuR abundance after HS, and (3) the HuR kinase checkpoint kinase 2 protected against the loss of HuR by HS. Within a central, HS‐labile ∼110‐amino‐acid region, K182 was found to be essential for HuR ubiquitination and proteolysis as mutant HuR(K182R) was left virtually unubiquitinated and was refractory to HS‐triggered degradation. Our findings reveal that HS transiently lowers HuR by proteolysis linked to K182 ubiquitination and that HuR reduction enhances cell survival following HS.

IGF-1R inhibition by R1507 induced tumor growth delays and improvement in event-free survival in four of six osteosarcoma xenograft tumor lines. R1507 negates increased signaling through AKT in response to mammalian target of rapamycin inhibition, suggesting that the combination is worthy of further evaluation in patients. As R1507 and other IGF-1R inhibitors advance in clinical trials, it will be important to understand biomarkers of response and pathways of resistance.

Osteosarcoma, the most common malignant bone tumor of childhood, is a high-grade primary bone sarcoma that occurs mostly in adolescence. Standard treatment consists of surgery in combination with multi-agent chemotherapy regimens. The development and approval of imatinib for Philadelphia chromosome-positive acute lymphoblastic leukemia in children and the fully human monoclonal antibody, anti-GD2, as part of an immune therapy for high-risk neuroblastoma patients have established the precedent for use of targeted inhibitors along with standard chemotherapy backbones. However, few targeted agents tested have achieved traditional clinical endpoints for osteosarcoma. Many biological agents demonstrating anti-tumor responses in preclinical and early-phase clinical testing have failed to reach response thresholds to justify randomized trials with large numbers of patients. The development of targeted therapies for pediatric cancer remains a significant challenge. To aid in the prioritization of new agents for clinical testing, the Pediatric Preclinical Testing Program (PPTP) has developed reliable and robust preclinical pediatric cancer models to rapidly screen agents for activity in multiple childhood cancers and establish pharmacological parameters and effective drug concentrations for clinical trials. In this article, we examine a range of standard and novel agents that have been evaluated by the PPTP, and we discuss the preclinical and clinical development of these for the treatment of osteosarcoma. We further demonstrate that committed resources for hypothesis-driven drug discovery and development are needed to yield clinical successes in the search for new therapies for this pediatric disease.

Histone deacetylase inhibitors (HDACi) have been evaluated in patients with Ewing sarcoma (EWS) but demonstrated limited activity. To better understand the potential for HDACi in EWS, we evaluated the combination of the HDACi vorinostat, with DNA damaging agents SN-38 (the active metabolite of irinotecan and topoisomerase 1 inhibitor) plus the alkylating agent temozolomide (ST). Drugs were evaluated in sequential and simultaneous combinations in two EWS cell lines. Results demonstrate that cell viability, DNA damage and reactive oxygen species (ROS) production are dependent on the sequence of drug administration. Enhanced cytotoxicity is exhibited in vitro in EWS cell lines treated with ST administered before vorinostat, which was modestly higher than concomitant treatment and superior to vorinostat administered before ST. Drug combinations downregulate cyclin D1 to induce G0/G1 arrest and promote apoptosis by cleavage of caspase-3 and PARP. When ST is administered before or concomitantly with vorinostat there is activation of STAT3, MAPK and the p53 pathway. In contrast, when vorinostat is administered before ST, there is DNA repair, increased AKT phosphorylation and reduced H2B acetylation. Inhibition of AKT using the small molecule inhibitor MK-2206 did not restore H2B acetylation. Combining ST with the dual ALK and IGF-1R inhibitor, AZD3463 simultaneously inhibited STAT3 and AKT to enhance the cytotoxic effects of ST and further reduce cell growth suggesting that STAT3 and AKT activation were in part mediated by ALK and IGF-1R signaling. In summary, potent antiproliferative and proapoptotic activity were demonstrated for ST induced DNA damage before or simultaneous with HDAC inhibition and cell death was mediated through the p53 pathway. These observations may aid in designing new protocols for treating pediatric patients with high-risk EWS.

Introduction There are > 75 histological types of solid tumors that are classified into two major groups: bone and soft-tissue sarcomas. These diseases are more prevalent in children, and pediatric sarcomas tend to be highly aggressive and rapidly progressive. Sarcomas in adults may follow a more indolent course, but aggressive tumors are also common. Sarcomas that are metastatic at diagnosis, or recurrent following therapy, remain refractory to current treatment options with dismal overall survival rates. A major focus of clinical trials, for patients with sarcoma, is to identify novel and more effective therapeutic strategies targeted to genomic or proteomic aberrations specific to the malignant cells. Critical to the understanding of the potential for targeted therapies are models of disease that are representative of clinical disease and predictive of relevant clinical responses. Areas covered In this article, the authors discuss the use of mouse xenograft models and genetically engineered mice in cancer drug discovery. The authors provide a special focus on models for the two most common bone sarcomas: osteosarcoma (OS) and Ewing's sarcoma (ES). Expert opinion Predicting whether a new anticancer agent will have a positive therapeutic index in patients with OS and ES remains a challenge. The use of mouse sarcoma models for understanding the mechanisms involved in the response of tumors to new treatments is an important step in the process of drug discovery and the development of clinically relevant therapeutic strategies for these diseases.

Both high sugar and fat diets can induce prosteatotic genes, leading to obesity and obesity-associated diseases, including hepatic steatosis. Unsaturated fat/fatty acid (USFA) reduces high sugar-induced hepatic steatosis by inhibiting the induced prosteatotic genes. In contrast, it is still unclear how USFA ameliorates saturated fat/fatty acid (SFA)-induced hepatic steatosis. As sugar and fat have different transport and metabolic pathways, we hypothesized that USFA suppressed SFA-induced hepatic steatosis via a different set of prosteatotic genes. To test this, we implemented high SFA vs USFA diets and a control diet in C57BL/6 mice for 16 weeks. Severe hepatic steatosis was induced in mice fed the SFA diet. Among a nearly complete set of prosteatotic genes, only the stearoyl-coenzyme a desaturase 1 (Scd1), cluster of differentiation 36 (Cd36), and peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ (Pparγ) genes that were differentially expressed in the liver could contribute to SFA-induced steatosis or the alleviative effect of USFA. That is, the SFA diet induced the expression of Cd36 and Pparγ but not Scd1, and the USFA diet suppressed Scd1 expression and the induction of Cd36 and Pparγ. These findings were mainly recapitulated in cultured hepatocytes. The essential roles of SCD1 and CD36 were confirmed by the observation that the suppression of SCD1 and CD36 with small interfering RNA or drug treatment ameliorated SFA-induced lipid accumulation in hepatocytes. We thus concluded that SCD1, CD36, and PPARγ were essential to the suppression of SFA-induced hepatic steatosis by main dietary USFA, which may provide different therapeutic targets for reducing high-fat vs sugar-induced hepatic steatosis.

Malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumors (MPNST) are a rare form of soft tissue sarcoma which may occur sporadically in the general population or in association with neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1), and are highly aggressive and often fatal. NF1 patients are at a greater risk for the development of malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumors than the general population. Current therapy relies upon surgical resection with adjuvant chemotherapy and/or radiotherapy. Clinical trials using Reolysin (Respiratory Enteric Orphan Virus) which is developed from the naturally-occurring human reovirus have demonstrated the efficacy of this reovirus as an oncolytic virotherapy. Reolysin selectively replicates in cancer cells with activated Ras (Ras-GTP), resulting in virus-mediated apoptotic cell death. Hence Reolysin demonstrates promising anticancer activity and has minimal toxicity in patients. Since MPNST is associated with neurofibromin (NF1) deficiency and active Ras we tested these tumors as therapeutic targets for Reolysin treatment using two NF1 deficient human MPNST-derived cell lines (CRL-2884, ST8814) with activated Ras and one sporadic MPNST cell line (STS26T) which expresses NF1 but not active Ras. These were compared with normal human Schwann cells (NHSC) which do not show active Ras and mammary gland cells derived from an NF1 patient (CRL-7329). Reolysin inhibited the proliferation and viability of the three MPNST cell lines at a dose of 0.1 to 10 virus particles/cell, including sporadic MPNST cells which do not have active Ras. In contrast, the NHSC and CRL-7329 cells were more resistant to viral treatment, with apoptosis induced at higher viral concentrations (10,000 and 100,000 virus particles/cell respectively). Furthermore, we examined the effects of Reolysin on the Ras-signaling pathway in a bladder cancer cell line (HTB-4) expressing NF1 and Ras and found that virus induced cytotoxicity was similar to the control cell lines (100,000 virus particles/cell). This study shows that MPNST-derived cell lines including sporadic MPNST without active Ras were efficiently transduced, promoted virus replication and were killed by the oncolytic reovirus. In contrast to the highly sensitive MPNST cell lines, NHSC, CRL-7329 and HTB-4 cells were resistant at similar viral concentrations. Our data suggests the use of oncolytic Reolysin may represent a novel treatment approach for patients with MPNST and provides the basis for preclinical testing of the antitumor effects. Therapeutic efficacy of Reolysin in a mouse model for MPNST is underway. Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 103rd Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2012 Mar 31-Apr 4; Chicago, IL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2012;72(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 2488. doi:1538-7445.AM2012-2488