scholarly journals Targeting MYC dependency in ovarian cancer through inhibition of CDK7 and CDK12/13

eLife ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mei Zeng ◽  
Nicholas P Kwiatkowski ◽  
Tinghu Zhang ◽  
Behnam Nabet ◽  
Mousheng Xu ◽  
...  

High-grade serous ovarian cancer is characterized by extensive copy number alterations, among which the amplification of MYC oncogene occurs in nearly half of tumors. We demonstrate that ovarian cancer cells highly depend on MYC for maintaining their oncogenic growth, indicating MYC as a therapeutic target for this difficult-to-treat malignancy. However, targeting MYC directly has proven difficult. We screen small molecules targeting transcriptional and epigenetic regulation, and find that THZ1 - a chemical inhibiting CDK7, CDK12, and CDK13 - markedly downregulates MYC. Notably, abolishing MYC expression cannot be achieved by targeting CDK7 alone, but requires the combined inhibition of CDK7, CDK12, and CDK13. In 11 patient-derived xenografts models derived from heavily pre-treated ovarian cancer patients, administration of THZ1 induces significant tumor growth inhibition with concurrent abrogation of MYC expression. Our study indicates that targeting these transcriptional CDKs with agents such as THZ1 may be an effective approach for MYC-dependent ovarian malignancies.

Author(s):  
Anna P. Sokolenko ◽  
Tatiana V. Gorodnova ◽  
Ilya V. Bizin ◽  
Ekaterina Sh. Kuligina ◽  
Khristina B. Kotiv ◽  
...  

Biomolecules ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (11) ◽  
pp. 1711
Author(s):  
Michelle Bilbao ◽  
Chelsea Katz ◽  
Stephanie L. Kass ◽  
Devon Smith ◽  
Krystal Hunter ◽  
...  

Recurrent high-grade serous ovarian cancer (HGSC) is clinically very challenging and prematurely shortens patients’ lives. Recurrent ovarian cancer is characterized by high tumor heterogeneity; therefore, it is susceptible to epigenetic therapy in classic 2D tissue culture and rodent models. Unfortunately, this success has not translated well into clinical trials. Utilizing a 3D spheroid model over a period of weeks, we were able to compare the efficacy of classic chemotherapy and epigenetic therapy on recurrent ovarian cancer cells. Unexpectedly, in our model, a single dose of paclitaxel alone caused the exponential growth of recurrent high-grade serous epithelial ovarian cancer over a period of weeks. In contrast, this effect is not only opposite under treatment with panobinostat, but panobinostat reverses the repopulation of cancer cells following paclitaxel treatment. In our model, we also demonstrate differences in the drug-treatment sensitivity of classic chemotherapy and epigenetic therapy. Moreover, 3D-derived ovarian cancer cells demonstrate induced proliferation, migration, invasion, cancer colony formation and chemoresistance properties after just a single exposure to classic chemotherapy. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first evidence demonstrating a critical contrast between short and prolonged post-treatment outcomes following classic chemotherapy and epigenetic therapy in recurrent high-grade serous ovarian cancer in 3D culture.


2018 ◽  
Vol 433 ◽  
pp. 221-231 ◽  
Author(s):  
Subbulakshmi Karthikeyan ◽  
Angela Russo ◽  
Matthew Dean ◽  
Daniel D. Lantvit ◽  
Michael Endsley ◽  
...  

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cassie Liu ◽  
Catalina Muñoz-Trujillo ◽  
John A. Katzenellenbogen ◽  
Benita S. Katzenellenbogen ◽  
Adam R. Karpf

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (6) ◽  
pp. 1805094
Author(s):  
Maria Bååth ◽  
Sofia Westbom-Fremer ◽  
Laura Martin de la Fuente ◽  
Anna Ebbesson ◽  
Juliette Davis ◽  
...  

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