Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
Pivot Concepts:   Target Concepts:
Query: UMLS:C0035412 (rhabdomyosarcoma)
 6,156 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Mapping of protein signaling networks within tumors can identify new targets for therapy and provide a means to stratify patients for individualized therapy. Despite advances in combination chemotherapy, the overall survival for childhood rhabdomyosarcoma remains approximately 60%. A critical goal is to identify functionally important protein signaling defects associated with treatment failure for the 40% nonresponder cohort. Here, we show, by phosphoproteomic network analysis of microdissected tumor cells, that interlinked components of the Akt/mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) pathway exhibited increased levels of phosphorylation for tumors of patients with short-term survival. Specimens (n = 59) were obtained from the Children's Oncology Group Intergroup Rhabdomyosarcoma Study (IRS) IV, D9502 and D9803, with 12-year follow-up. High phosphorylation levels were associated with poor overall and poor disease-free survival: Akt Ser(473) (overall survival P < 0.001, recurrence-free survival P < 0.0009), 4EBP1 Thr(37/46) (overall survival P < 0.0110, recurrence-free survival P < 0.0106), eIF4G Ser(1108) (overall survival P < 0.0017, recurrence-free survival P < 0.0072), and p70S6 Thr(389) (overall survival P < 0.0085, recurrence-free survival P < 0.0296). Moreover, the findings support an altered interrelationship between the insulin receptor substrate (IRS-1) and Akt/mTOR pathway proteins (P < 0.0027) for tumors from patients with poor survival. The functional significance of this pathway was tested using CCI-779 in a mouse xenograft model. CCI-779 suppressed phosphorylation of mTOR downstream proteins and greatly reduced the growth of two different rhabdomyosarcoma (RD embryonal P = 0.00008; Rh30 alveolar P = 0.0002) cell lines compared with controls. These results suggest that phosphoprotein mapping of the Akt/mTOR pathway should be studied further as a means to select patients to receive mTOR/IRS pathway inhibitors before administration of chemotherapy.
 ...
PMID:Phosphoprotein pathway mapping: Akt/mammalian target of rapamycin activation is negatively associated with childhood rhabdomyosarcoma survival. 1740 54

Rhabdomyosarcoma is the most common pediatric soft-tissue sarcoma, which includes two major subtypes, alveolar and embryonal rhabdomyosarcoma. The mechanism of its oncogenesis is largely unknown. However, the oncogenic process of rhabdomyosarcoma involves multi-stages of signaling protein dysregulation characterized by prolonged activation of tyrosine and serine/threonine kinases. To better understand this protein dysregulation, we evaluated the phosphorylation profiles of multiple tyrosine and serine/threonine kinases to identify whether these protein kinases are activated in rhabdomyosarcoma. We applied immunohistochemistry with phospho-specific antibodies to examine phosphorylation levels of selected receptor and non-receptor tyrosine kinases, mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR), p70S6K, and protein kinase C (PKC) isozymes on alveolar and embryonal rhabdomyosarcoma tissue microarray slides. Our results showed that the phosphorylation levels of these kinases are elevated in some rhabdomyosarcoma tissues compared to normal tissues. Phosphorylation levels of receptor and non-receptor tyrosine kinases are elevated between 26 and 68% in alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma and between 24 and 71% in embryonal rhabdomyosarcoma, respectively, compared to normal tissues. In addition, phosphorylation levels of mTOR and its downstream targets, p70S6K, S6, and 4EBP1, are increased between 50 and 72% in both subtypes of rhabdomyosarcoma. Further, phosphorylation levels of PKCalpha, PKCdelta, PKCtheta, and PKCzeta/lambda are upregulated between 57 and 69% in alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma and between 43 and 72% in embryonal rhabdomyosarcoma. This is the first report to create a phosphorylation profile of tyrosine and serine/threonine kinases involved in the mTOR and PKC pathways of alveolar and embryonal rhabdomyosarcoma. These protein kinases may play roles in the development or tumor progression of rhabdomyosarcomas and thus may serve as novel targets for therapeutic intervention.
 ...
PMID:Phosphorylation profiles of protein kinases in alveolar and embryonal rhabdomyosarcoma. 1758 18

The mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) is a serine/threonine protein kinase that exists in two complexes (mTORC1 and mTORC2) and integrates extracellular and intracellular signals to act as a master regulator of cell growth, survival, and metabolism. The PI3K/AKT/mTOR prosurvival pathway is often dysregulated in multiple sarcoma subtypes. First-generation allosteric inhibitors of mTORC1 (rapalogues) have been extensively tested with great preclinical promise, but have had limited clinical utility. Here, we report that MLN0128, a second-generation, ATP-competitive, pan-mTOR kinase inhibitor, acts on both mTORC1 and mTORC2 and has potent in vitro and in vivo antitumor activity in multiple sarcoma subtypes. In vitro, MLN0128 inhibits mTORC1/2 targets in a concentration-dependent fashion and shows striking antiproliferative effect in rhabdomyosarcoma (RMS), Ewing sarcoma, malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumor, synovial sarcoma, osteosarcoma, and liposarcoma. Unlike rapamycin, MLN0128 inhibits phosphorylation of 4EBP1 and NDRG1 as well as prevents the reactivation of pAKT that occurs via negative feedback release with mTORC1 inhibition alone. In xenograft models, MLN0128 treatment results in suppression of tumor growth with two dosing schedules (1 mg/kg daily and 3 mg/kg b.i.d. t.i.w.). At the 3 mg/kg dosing schedule, MLN0128 treatment results in significantly better tumor growth suppression than rapamycin in RMS and Ewing sarcoma models. In addition, MLN0128 induces apoptosis in models of RMS both in vitro and in vivo. Results from our study strongly suggest that MLN0128 treatment should be explored further as potential therapy for sarcoma.
 ...
PMID:MLN0128, an ATP-competitive mTOR kinase inhibitor with potent in vitro and in vivo antitumor activity, as potential therapy for bone and soft-tissue sarcoma. 2551