Based on these findings, we postulate a new mechanism of cardiac toxicity based on the PTM-driven accumulation of desmin amyloid-like oligomers. Phosphorylation and cleavage as well as oligomers formation are reduced by treatment (CRT) indicating a relationship between the three. Finally, the decrease of desmin amyloid-like oligomers with CRT or small molecules points both to a general mechanism of HF based on desmin toxicity that is independent of protein mutations and to novel potential therapies.
Pancreatic-ductal-adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is amongst the most lethal malignancies, mainly because of its metastatic spread and multifactorial chemoresistance. Since c-Met is a marker of pancreatic-cancer-stem-cells (CSC), playing a key role in metastasis and chemoresistance, this study evaluated the therapeutic potential of the novel c-Met/ALK inhibitor crizotinib against PDAC cells, including the Capan-1-gemcitabine-resistant cells (Capan-1-R). Crizotinib inhibited PDAC cell-growth with IC50 of 1.5 μM in Capan-1-R, and synergistically enhanced the antiproliferative and proapoptotic activity of gemcitabine, as detected by sulforhodamine-B-assay, flow cytometry and combination-index method. Capan-1-R had higher expression of the CSC markers CD44+/CD133+/CD326+, but their combined expression was significantly reduced by crizotinib, as detected by quantitative-RT-PCR and FACS-analysis. Similarly, Capan-1-R cells had significantly higher protein-expression of c-Met (≈2-fold), and increased migratory activity, which was reduced by crizotinib (e.g., > 50% reduction of cell-migration in Capan-1-R after 8-hour exposure, compared to untreated-cells), in association with reduced vimentin expression. Capan-1-R had also significantly higher mRNA expression of the gemcitabine catabolism-enzyme CDA, potentially explaining the higher CDA activity and statistically significant lower levels of gemcitabine-nucleotides in Capan-1-R compared to Capan-1, as detected by Liquid-chromatography-massspectrometry. Conversely, crizotinib significantly reduced CDA expression in both Capan-1 and Capan-1-R cells. In aggregate, these data show the ability of crizotinib to specifically target CSC-like-subpopulations, interfere with cell-proliferation, induce apoptosis, reduce migration and synergistically interact with gemcitabine, supporting further studies on this novel therapeutic approach for PDAC.
Resistance to therapy is an enduring challenge in cancer care. Here we interrogate this critical unmet need using high grade serous ovarian cancer (HGSC) as a disease model. We have generated a unique panel of platinum-resistant HGSC models and shown that they share multiple transcriptomic features with relapsed human HGSC. Moreover, they evolve diverse in vivo phenotypes reflecting the human disease. We previously characterised copy number signatures in HGSC that correlate with patient survival and now provide the first evidence that these signatures undergo recurrent alterations during platinum therapy. Furthermore, specific, resistance-associated signature change is associated with functionally relevant gene expression differences. For example, reduced signature 3 (BRCA1/2-related homologous recombination deficiency) is associated with increased expression of homologous recombination repair genes (Rad51C, Rad51D, BRCA1) and DNA recombination pathway enrichment. Our mechanistic examination therefore provides new and clinically relevant insights into the genomic evolution of platinum-resistant cancers.
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