Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UNIPROT:P10415 (Bcl-2)
 33,771 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Soft tissue sarcomas are a heterogeneous group of tumours arising predominantly from the embryonic mesoderm. They account for less than 1% of all adult malignancies. The prognosis of patients with advanced metastatic soft tissue sarcoma remains poor with a disease-free survival at 5 years less than 10%. Despite improvements in local tumour control due to surgery and radiotherapy, distant metastasis and death remain a significant problem in 50% of patients. Complete resection remains the major factor in providing cure with limited benefits in local tumour control by radiotherapy and only minimal benefit of systemic therapy for metastatic disease. Only few chemotherapeutic agents have been identified to be active with reported response rates for doxorubicin and ifosfamide around 20%. New strategies are urgently needed to improve patients' outcome. Progress in the molecular characteristics, the understanding of biology and pathogenesis of these tumours has been made and should in the near future translate into molecularly based therapies. We describe current treatment strategies and existing standards. Moreover, we give an overview on the emerging compounds for patients with soft tissue sarcoma including recent developments of targeted therapy focusing on antiangiogenic and immunomodulatory drugs, Bcl-2 antisense therapy, raf kinase and mTOR inhibition, minor groove binders, and other agents being developed.
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PMID:Standards and novel therapeutic options in the treatment of patients with soft tissue sarcoma. 1847 6

The promise of cancer immunotherapy is long-term disease control with high specificity and low toxicity. However, many cancers fail immune interventions, and secretion of immunosuppressive factors, defective antigen presentation, and expression of death ligands or serpins are regarded as main escape mechanisms. Here, we study whether deregulation of growth and survival factor signaling, which is encountered in most human cancers, provides another level of protection against immunologic tumor eradication. We show in two models that activated cell autonomous protein kinase B (PKB)/AKT signaling mediates resistance against tumor suppression by antigen-specific CTLs in vitro and adoptively transferred cellular immune effectors in vivo. PKB/AKT-dependent immunoresistance of established tumors is reversed by genetic suppression of endogenous Mcl-1, an antiapoptotic member of the Bcl-2 family. Mechanistically, deregulated PKB/AKT stabilizes Mcl-1 expression in a mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR)-dependent pathway. Treatment with the mTOR inhibitor rapamycin effectively sensitizes established cancers to adoptive immunotherapy in vivo. In conclusion, cancer cell-intrinsic PKB/AKT signaling regulates the susceptibility to immune-mediated cytotoxicity. Combined targeting of signal transduction pathways may be critical for improvement of cancer immunotherapies.
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PMID:Targeting AKT signaling sensitizes cancer to cellular immunotherapy. 1848 75

The Bcl-2 family proteins are important regulators of type I programmed cell death apoptosis; however, their role in autophagic cell death (AuCD) or type II programmed cell death is still largely unknown. Here we report the cloning and characterization of a novel Bcl-2 homology domain 3 (BH3)-only protein, apolipoprotein L1 (apoL1), that, when overexpressed and accumulated intracellularly, induces AuCD in cells as characterized by the increasing formation of autophagic vacuoles and activating the translocation of LC3-II from the cytosol to the autophagic vacuoles. Wortmannin and 3-methyladenine, inhibitors of class III phosphatidylinostol 3-kinase and, subsequently, autophagy, blocked apoL1-induced AuCD. In addition, apoL1 failed to induce AuCD in autophagy-deficient ATG5(-/-) and ATG7(-/-) mouse embryonic fibroblast cells, suggesting that apoL1-induced cell death is indeed autophagy-dependent. Furthermore, a BH3 domain deletion construct of apoL1 failed to induce AuCD, demonstrating that apoL1 is a bona fide BH3-only pro-death protein. Moreover, we showed that apoL1 is inducible by p53 in p53-induced cell death and is a lipid-binding protein with high affinity for phosphatidic acid (PA) and cardiolipin (CL). Previously, it has been shown that PA directly interacted with mammalian target of rapamycin and positively regulated the ability of mammalian target of rapamycin to activate downstream effectors. In addition, CL has been shown to activate mitochondria-mediated apoptosis. Sequestering of PA and CL with apoL1 may alter the homeostasis between survival and death leading to AuCD. To our knowledge, this is the first BH3-only protein with lipid binding activity that, when overproduced intracellularly, induces AuCD.
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PMID:Apolipoprotein L1, a novel Bcl-2 homology domain 3-only lipid-binding protein, induces autophagic cell death. 1850 29

Activation of the phosphatidylinositol-3 kinase/Akt/mammalian target of the rapamycin (PI3K/Akt/mTOR) pathway and inactivation of wild-type p53 by murine double minute 2 homologue (Mdm2) overexpression are frequent molecular events in acute myeloid leukemia (AML). We investigated the interaction of PI3K/Akt/mTOR and p53 pathways after their simultaneous blockade using the dual PI3K/mTOR inhibitor PI-103 and the Mdm2 inhibitor Nutlin-3. We found that PI-103, which itself has modest apoptogenic activity, acts synergistically with Nutlin-3 to induce apoptosis in a wild-type p53-dependent fashion. PI-103 synergized with Nutlin-3 to induce Bax conformational change and caspase-3 activation, despite its inhibitory effect on p53 induction. The PI-103/Nutlin-3 combination caused profound dephosphorylation of 4E-BP1 and decreased expression of many proteins including Mdm2, p21, Noxa, Bcl-2 and survivin, which can affect mitochondrial stability. We suggest that PI-103 actively enhances downstream p53 signaling and that a combination strategy aimed at inhibiting PI3K/Akt/mTOR signaling and activating p53 signaling is potentially effective in AML, where TP53 mutations are rare and downstream p53 signaling is intact.
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PMID:The dual PI3 kinase/mTOR inhibitor PI-103 prevents p53 induction by Mdm2 inhibition but enhances p53-mediated mitochondrial apoptosis in p53 wild-type AML. 1854 93

Anthocyanins extracted from the berries of Phillyrea latifolia L., Pistacia lentiscus L., and Rubia peregrina L., three evergreen shrubs widely distributed in the Mediterranean area, were examined for their antioxidant and anticancer activity. The P. lentiscus anthocyanins showed the highest H(2)O(2) and 1,1-diphenyl-2-picryl-hydrazil radical scavenging effects, indicating that these compounds can be considered as an alternative source of natural antioxidants for food and pharmaceutical products. Here, we also report a novel function of anthocyanins: the induction of autophagy, a process of subcellular turnover involved in carcinogenesis. Autophagy was characterized by the up-regulation of eIF2alpha, an autophagy inducer, and down-regulation of mTOR and Bcl-2, two autophagy inhibitors. This led to the enhanced expression of LC3-II, an autophagosome marker in mammals, and monodansylcadaverine incorporation into autolysosomes. Anthocyanin-induced autophagy switched to apoptosis, as shown by the activation of Bax, cytochrome c and caspase 3, terminal deoxynucleotide transferase-mediated dUTP nick-end labeling-positive fragmented nuclei, and cells with sub-G(1) DNA content, which were prevented by z-VAD. Inhibition of autophagy by either 3-methyladenine or Atg5 small interfering RNA enhanced anthocyanin-triggered apoptosis. This provided evidence that autophagy functions as a survival mechanism in liver cancer cells against anthocyanin-induced apoptosis and a rationale for the use of autophagy inhibitors in combination with dietary chemopreventive agents.
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PMID:Autophagy inhibition enhances anthocyanin-induced apoptosis in hepatocellular carcinoma. 1872 93

The AKT/mammalian target of rapamycin (AKT/mTOR) and ERK MAPK signaling pathways have been shown to cooperate in prostate cancer progression and the transition to androgen-independent disease. We have now tested the effects of combinatorial inhibition of these pathways on prostate tumorigenicity by performing preclinical studies using a genetically engineered mouse model of prostate cancer. We report here that combination therapy using rapamycin, an inhibitor of mTOR, and PD0325901, an inhibitor of MAPK kinase 1 (MEK; the kinase directly upstream of ERK), inhibited cell growth in cultured prostate cancer cell lines and tumor growth particularly for androgen-independent prostate tumors in the mouse model. We further showed that such inhibition leads to inhibition of proliferation and upregulated expression of the apoptotic regulator Bcl-2-interacting mediator of cell death (Bim). Furthermore, analyses of human prostate cancer tissue microarrays demonstrated that AKT/mTOR and ERK MAPK signaling pathways are often coordinately deregulated during prostate cancer progression in humans. We therefore propose that combination therapy targeting AKT/mTOR and ERK MAPK signaling pathways may be an effective treatment for patients with advanced prostate cancer, in particular those with hormone-refractory disease.
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PMID:Targeting AKT/mTOR and ERK MAPK signaling inhibits hormone-refractory prostate cancer in a preclinical mouse model. 1872 93

The present study investigated the effect of mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) inhibition on HCC cells in vitro and in vivo, either alone or in combination with cytotoxic agents. In vitro, HCC cell lines were exposed to RAD001, an mTOR inhibitor, either alone or in combination with cisplatin. Alone, RAD001 suppressed cell proliferation in all cell lines tested, but did not induce apoptosis. RAD001 in combination with cisplatin induced a significant increase in the number of apoptotic cells, downregulated the expression of pro-survival molecules, Bcl-2, survivin and cyclinD1, and increased the cleavage of PARP, compared to RAD001 or cisplatin alone. Transfection of p53 into the Hep3B cell line increased the sensitivity of tumor cells to cisplatin. The suppression of HCC tumor growth in vivo was enhanced by RAD001 combined with cisplatin, accompanied by a significant increase in the number of apoptotic cells in tumor tissues. This study demonstrates that inhibition of mTOR suppresses tumor growth and sensitizes tumor cells to chemocytotoxic agents.
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PMID:Inhibition of mTOR enhances chemosensitivity in hepatocellular carcinoma. 1882 93

ABT-263 is a potent, orally bioavailable inhibitor of the antiapoptotic Bcl-2 family members Bcl-2, Bcl-x(L), and Bcl-w, which is currently in phase I clinical trials. Previous work has shown that this compound has low nanomolar cell-killing activity in a variety of lymphoma and leukemia cell lines, many of which overexpress Bcl-2 through a variety of mechanisms. Rapamycin is a macrolide antibiotic that inhibits the mammalian target of rapamycin complex, leading to cell cycle arrest and inhibition of protein translation. Rapamycin (and its analogues) has shown activity in a variety of tumor cell lines primarily through induction of cell cycle arrest. Activity has also been shown clinically in mantle cell lymphoma and advanced renal cell carcinoma. Here, we show that treatment of the follicular lymphoma lines DoHH-2 and SuDHL-4 with 100 nmol/L rapamycin induces substantial G(0)-G(1) arrest. Addition of as little as 39 nmol/L ABT-263 to the rapamycin regimen induced a 3-fold increase in sub-G(0) cells. Combination of these agents also led to a significant increase in Annexin V staining over ABT-263 alone. In xenograft models of these tumors, rapamycin induced a largely cytostatic response in the DoHH-2 and SuDHL-4 models. Coadministration with ABT-263 induced significant tumor regression, with DoHH-2 and SuDHL-4 tumors showing 100% overall response rates. Apoptosis in these tumors was significantly enhanced by combination therapy as measured by staining with an antibody specific for cleaved caspase-3. These data suggest that combination of ABT-263 and rapamycin or its analogues represents a promising therapeutic strategy for the treatment of lymphoma.
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PMID:ABT-263 and rapamycin act cooperatively to kill lymphoma cells in vitro and in vivo. 1885 30

Historically, most drugs developed for treatment of leukemias, lymphomas, and myeloma had already been studied in the solid tumor setting. Nearly 10 years ago, chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML) forever changed this paradigm. Imatinib showed that it was possible to nullify the pathognomic genetic lesion in a hematologic malignancy. Since the approval of imatinib for CML, a host of new drugs active in blood cancers have emerged. This article highlights some areas of innovative drug development in lymphoma where possible; it emphasizes the biologic basis for the approach, linking this essential biology to the biochemical pharmacology. The article focuses on the many new targets including Syk, Bcl-2, CD-40, and the phosphoinositide-3 kinase/AKT/mammalian target of rapamycin pathway.
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PMID:New drugs for the treatment of lymphoma. 1895 49

In melanoma, the PI3K-AKT-mTOR (AKT) and RAF-MEK-ERK (MAPK) signaling pathways are constitutively activated and appear to play a role in chemoresistance. Herein, we investigated the effects of pharmacological AKT and MAPK pathway inhibitors on chemosensitivity of melanoma cells to cisplatin and temozolomide. Chemosensitivity was tested by examining effects on growth, cell cycle, survival, expression of antiapoptotic proteins, and invasive tumor growth of melanoma cells in monolayer and organotypic culture, respectively. MAPK pathway inhibitors did not significantly increase chemosensitivity. AKT pathway inhibitors consistently enhanced chemosensitivity yielding an absolute increase of cell growth inhibition up to 60% (P<0.05, combination therapy vs monotherapy with inhibitors or chemotherapeutics). Cotreatment of melanoma cells with AKT pathway inhibitors and chemotherapeutics led to a 2- to 3-fold increase of apoptosis (P<0.05, combination therapy vs monotherapy) and completely suppressed invasive tumor growth in organotypic culture. These effects were associated with suppression of the antiapoptotic Bcl-2 family protein Mcl-1. These data suggest that inhibition of the PI3K-AKT-mTOR pathway potently increases sensitivity of melanoma cells to chemotherapy.
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PMID:Inhibition of PI3K-AKT-mTOR signaling sensitizes melanoma cells to cisplatin and temozolomide. 1907 92


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