Discrete tissue niches are emerging as essential prerequisites enabling cell communication and function in both homeostasis and disease. In a recent Cell paper, Di Pilato et al. identify a unique dendritic cell-cytotoxic T cell crosstalk within the perivascular space that facilitates T cell survival and proliferation and drives anti-tumor activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Chemotherapy, Cancer Research, medicine.medical_treatment, Antagonist, Cancer, Tumor cells, Cell Biology, Biology, medicine.disease, Small molecule, Cell biology, USP9X, Downregulation and upregulation, Oncology, medicine, Cancer research, Cell survival
Abstract
Expression of MCL-1 is frequently elevated in cancer and is implicated in the resistance to chemotherapy by the BCL-2 small molecule inhibitor ABT-737. A recent paper in Nature identified USP9X as an antagonist of MCL-1 ubiquitinylation and degradation. Often upregulated in tumor cells, USP9X activity influences the response to ABT-737.
Drug, Programmed cell death, Cancer Research, Cell Survival, media_common.quotation_subject, Antineoplastic Agents, Apoptosis, Biology, Bioinformatics, Piperazines, RNA interference, Neoplasms, medicine, Phosphoprotein Phosphatases, cancer, Humans, Phosphorylation, RNA, Small Interfering, Protein Kinase Inhibitors, media_common, Kinase, Cancer, Drug Synergism, Cell Biology, medicine.disease, Pyrimidines, Oncology, Biomedical Genetics, Benzamides, Imatinib Mesylate, RNA Interference, Biologie, Protein Kinases, Function (biology), Genetic screen, HeLa Cells
Abstract
The success of the family of kinases as targets for small-molecule cancer therapeutics is probably best illustrated by the efficacy of the drug Gleevec. In spite of this, the function of many of the kinases in the mammalian genome remains unknown. In a recent paper, MacKeigan and colleagues report a functional genetic screen using RNA interference to identify kinases and phosphatases involved in programmed cell death (MacKeigan et al., 2005). Functional annotation is a prerequisite for selection of new drug targets. Such studies may therefore lay the foundation for the next generation of cancer drugs.