Maintenance Therapy in Diffuse Large B Cell Lymphoma and Mantle Cell Lymphoma

Cyclin-dependent kinase 7/9 inhibitor SNS-032 induces apoptosis in diffuse large B-cell lymphoma cells

Approximately 40% of patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) are refractory or relapse to standard chemotherapy, and most of them are activated B cell-like DLBCLs (ABC-DLBCL) and germinal center B cell-like DLBCLs (GCB-DLBCL). SNS-032, a novel and selective CDK7/9 inhibitor, that the first phase clinical trials approved by US FDA for cancer treatment have been completed. In this study, we investigated the anti-tumor effect of SNS-032 in ABC- and GCB-DLBCL subtypes. We report that SNS-032 induced growth inhibition and cell apoptosis in both DLBCL cells in vitro, and inhibited the growth of both DLBCL xenografts in nude mice. Mechanistically, SNS-032 inhibited RNA polymerase II, which led to transcriptional-dependent suppression of NF-κB signaling pathway and its downstream targets involved in cell survival; SNS-032 also downregulates BCL-2 and c-MYC in both mRNA and protein levels. Significantly, these findings provide pre-clinical evidence for application of targeting the CDK7/9 in DLBCL.

Advances in Molecular Biology and Targeted Therapy of Mantle Cell Lymphoma

Mantle cell lymphoma (MCL) is a heterogeneous malignancy with a broad spectrum of clinical behavior from indolent to highly aggressive cases. Despite the fact that MCL remains in most cases incurable by currently applied immunochemotherapy, our increasing knowledge on the biology of MCL in the last two decades has led to the design, testing, and approval of several innovative agents that dramatically changed the treatment landscape for MCL patients. Most importantly, the implementation of new drugs and novel treatment algorithms into clinical practice has successfully translated into improved outcomes of MCL patients not only in the clinical trials, but also in real life. This review focuses on recent advances in our understanding of the pathogenesis of MCL, and provides a brief survey of currently used treatment options with special focus on mode of action of selected innovative anti-lymphoma molecules. Finally, it outlines future perspectives of patient management with progressive shift from generally applied immunotherapy toward risk-stratified, patient-tailored protocols that would implement innovative agents and/or procedures with the ultimate goal to eradicate the lymphoma and cure the patient.

Sorcin: a novel potential target in therapies of cancers

Soluble resistance-related calcium-binding protein (sorcin) is a member of the penta-EF-hand protein family. Sorcin is widely distributed in normal human tissues, such as the brain, heart, lymphocytes, kidneys, breast and skin. Findings suggest that sorcin is associated with the regulation of calcium homeostasis, cell cycle and vesicle trafficking. It has been reported that many types of non-neoplastic diseases such as diabetes, viral infection, infertility, and nervous system diseases were affected by the expression of sorcin. One of the main issues is the role of sorcin in neoplastic diseases. Research proved that sorcin can be found to overexpress in cells of several cancers, particularly in the case of multidrug-resistant cancers. Additionally, the researchers proposed that the expression of sorcin was significantly associated with the foundation of multidrug resistance (MDR). All the findings mentioned above emphasized the importance of studying sorcin. This review mainly includes the following aspects: functions of sorcin, role in non-neoplastic and neoplastic diseases, and research related to drugs. To sum up, sorcin is a potential novel target to be studied to deal with MDR.

Soluble resistance-related calcium-binding protein in cancers

Soluble resistance-related calcium binding protein (Sorcin) is an oncoprotein expressed at high levels in human cancers and confers multidrug resistance (MDR) in several tumors. Sorcin participates in a number of neoplastic processing including metastasis and apoptosis. In this review, we summarize and discuss the relationship of Sorcin with tumors as well as its regulatory mechanisms. Sorcin is increasingly considered as a potential molecular target for therapeutic intervention.