Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
Pivot Concepts:   Target Concepts:
Query: EC:2.7.11.1 (protein kinase)
 81,284 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Recent evidences suggest that the activity of glycogen synthase kinase-3 (GSK3) contributes to the tumorigenic potential of pancreatic cancer cells through modulation of cell proliferation and survival. However, further investigations are needed to identify GSK3-dependent mechanisms involved in the control of pancreatic cancer cell proliferation and survival. This study was undertaken to provide further support for a role of GSK3 in pancreatic cancer cell growth as well as to identify new cellular and molecular mechanisms involved. Herein, we demonstrate that prolonged inhibition of GSK3 triggers an apoptotic response only in human pancreatic cancer cells but not in human non-transformed pancreatic epithelial cells. We show that prolonged inhibition of GSK3 activity increases Bim messenger RNA and protein expressions. Moreover, we provide evidence that activation of the c-jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) pathway is necessary for the GSK3 inhibition-mediated increase in Bim expression and apoptotic response. Finally, we demonstrate that concomitant inhibition of GSK3 potentiates the death ligand-induced apoptotic response in pancreatic cancer cells but not in non-transformed pancreatic epithelial cells and that this effect also requires JNK activity. Considering that different approaches leading to stimulation of death receptor signaling are under clinical trials for treatment of unresectable or metastatic pancreatic cancer, inhibition of GSK3 could represent an attractive new avenue to improve their effectiveness.
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PMID:Inhibition of glycogen synthase kinase-3 activity triggers an apoptotic response in pancreatic cancer cells through JNK-dependent mechanisms. 2220 Nov 86

Pancreatic cancer is the fourth biggest killer, and has one of the worst prognoses, of any cancer type. Approximately 95% of patients diagnosed with pancreatic cancer will not survive beyond 5 years post diagnosis, and these statistics have barely improved in over 40 years. Here, genomic changes in one particular patient with stage IV metastatic pancreatic cancer were explored to suggest a potential personalized treatment. In particular, exome sequencing of genomic DNA extracted from blood and the cancer biopsy was utilized with the aim of identifying mutational drivers of the cancer. This analysis revealed a splice site mutation in RBCK1 as the most promising driver of the cancer and a therapy based on a pan-cyclin-dependent kinase (pan-CDK) inhibitor, flavopiridol. This study suggests that drugs whose effectiveness is unclear for general populations of cancer sufferers should possibly be reconsidered for specific patients where the drug could be rationally argued to improve outcome.
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PMID:Exome sequencing reveals a potential mutational trajectory and treatments for a specific pancreatic cancer patient. 2483 9

There is currently tremendous interest in developing anti-cancer therapeutics targeting cell signaling pathways important for both cancer cell metabolism and growth. Several epidemiological studies have shown that diabetic patients taking metformin have a decreased incidence of pancreatic cancer. This has prompted efforts to evaluate metformin, a drug with negligible toxicity, as a therapeutic modality in pancreatic cancer. Preclinical studies in cell line xenografts and one study in patient-derived xenograft (PDX) models were promising, while recently published clinical trials showed no benefit to adding metformin to combination therapy regimens for locally advanced and metastatic pancreatic cancer. PDX models in which patient tumors are directly engrafted into immunocompromised mice have been shown to be excellent preclinical models for biomarker discovery and therapeutic development. We evaluated the response of four PDX tumor lines to metformin treatment and found that all four of our PDX lines were resistant to metformin. We found that the mechanisms of resistance may occur through lack of sustained activation of adenosine monophosphate-activated protein kinase (AMPK) or downstream reactivation of the mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR). Moreover, combined treatment with metformin and mTOR inhibitors failed to improve responses in cell lines, which further indicates that metformin alone or in combination with mTOR inhibitors will be ineffective in patients, and that resistance to metformin may occur through multiple pathways. Further studies are required to better understand these mechanisms of resistance and inform potential combination therapies with metformin and existing or novel therapeutics.
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PMID:Metformin Treatment Does Not Inhibit Growth of Pancreatic Cancer Patient-Derived Xenografts. 2676 May