Promising Therapy in Lung Cancer: Spotlight on Aurora Kinases

Simple Summary

Lung cancer has remained one of the major causes of death worldwide. Thus, a more effective treatment approach is essential, such as the inhibition of specific cancer-promoting molecules. Aurora kinases regulate the process of mitosis—a process of cell division that is necessary for normal cell proliferation. Dysfunction of these kinases can contribute to cancer formation. In this review, we present studies indicating the implication of Aurora kinases in tumor formation, drug resistance, and disease prognosis. The effectivity of using Aurora kinase inhibitors in the pre-clinical and clinical investigations has proven their therapeutic potential in the setting of lung cancer. This work may provide further information to broaden the development of anticancer drugs and, thus, improve the conventional lung cancer management.

Abstract

Despite tremendous efforts to improve the treatment of lung cancer, prognosis still remains poor; hence, the search for efficacious therapeutic option remains a prime concern in lung cancer research. Cell cycle regulation including mitosis has emerged as an important target for cancer management. Novel pharmacological agents blocking the activities of regulatory molecules that control the functional aspects of mitosis such as Aurora kinases are now being investigated. The Aurora kinases, Aurora-A (AURKA), and Aurora B (AURKB) are overexpressed in many tumor entities such as lung cancer that correlate with poor survival, whereby their inhibition, in most cases, enhances the efficacy of chemo-and radiotherapies, indicating their implication in cancer therapy. The current knowledge on Aurora kinase inhibitors has increasingly shown high potential in ensuing targeted therapies in lung malignancies. In this review, we will briefly describe the biology of Aurora kinases, highlight their oncogenic roles in the pre-clinical and clinical studies in lung cancer and, finally, address the challenges and potentials of Aurora kinases to improve the therapy of this malignancy.

Cell cycle inhibitors for the treatment of NSCLC

INTRODUCTION

Lung cancer remains to be the leading cause of cancer-related death worldwide. Treatment of lung cancer still poses a significant challenge. Cell cycle is a tightly integrated process and is frequently aberrant in lung cancer. Cell cycle inhibitors have emerged as novel therapeutics, in anticipation of overcoming the unrestricted cell division and growth in lung cancer.

AREAS COVERED

In this article, we first address the potential roles of cell cycle proteins and cell cycle deregulation in the development of lung cancer. The review then provides an overview for several major categories of cell cycle inhibitors with particular attention to their tolerability and disease control in early phases of lung cancer trials.

EXPERT OPINION

Targeted agents against different components of cell cycle regulation, such as cyclin-dependent kinase, polo-like kinase, checkpoint kinase and aurora kinase, are currently in clinical development for lung cancer management. Their clinical benefits remain to be defined. When evaluated as single agents in lung cancer, cell cycle inhibitors are often associated with limited clinical activity and tolerable toxicities. The key challenges in the drug development are to understand resistance mechanisms and to identify predictive biomarkers that can potentially guide patient selection and optimize the utility of these targeted inhibitors.