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Chen YC, Gowda K, Amin S, Schell TD, Sharma AK, Robertson GP. Pharmacological agents targeting drug-tolerant persister cells in cancer. Pharmacol Res 2024; 203:107163. [PMID: 38569982 DOI: 10.1016/j.phrs.2024.107163] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/19/2023] [Revised: 03/05/2024] [Accepted: 03/29/2024] [Indexed: 04/05/2024]
Abstract
Current cancer therapy can be effective, but the development of drug resistant disease is the usual outcome. These drugs can eliminate most of the tumor burden but often fail to eliminate the rare, "Drug Tolerant Persister" (DTP) cell subpopulations in residual tumors, which can be referred to as "Persister" cells. Therefore, novel therapeutic agents specifically targeting or preventing the development of drug-resistant tumors mediated by the remaining persister cells subpopulations are needed. Since approximately ninety percent of cancer-related deaths occur because of the eventual development of drug resistance, identifying, and dissecting the biology of the persister cells is essential for the creation of drugs to target them. While there remains uncertainty surrounding all the markers identifying DTP cells in the literature, this review summarizes the drugs and therapeutic approaches that are available to target the persister cell subpopulations expressing the cellular markers ATP-binding cassette sub-family B member 5 (ABCB5), CD133, CD271, Lysine-specific histone demethylase 5 (KDM5), and aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH). Persister cells expressing these markers were selected as the focus of this review because they have been found on cells surviving following drug treatments that promote recurrent drug resistant cancer and are associated with stem cell-like properties, including self-renewal, differentiation, and resistance to therapy. The limitations and obstacles facing the development of agents targeting these DTP cell subpopulations are detailed, with discussion of potential solutions and current research areas needing further exploration.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yu-Chi Chen
- Department of Pharmacology, The Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine, Hershey, PA, USA
| | - Krishne Gowda
- Department of Pharmacology, The Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine, Hershey, PA, USA
| | - Shantu Amin
- Department of Pharmacology, The Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine, Hershey, PA, USA
| | - Todd D Schell
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, The Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine, Hershey, PA, USA
| | - Arun K Sharma
- Department of Pharmacology, The Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine, Hershey, PA, USA
| | - Gavin P Robertson
- Department of Pharmacology, The Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine, Hershey, PA, USA; Department of Pathology, The Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine, Hershey, PA, USA; Department of Dermatology, The Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine, Hershey, PA, USA; Department of Surgery, The Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine, Hershey, PA, USA; The Pennsylvania State University Melanoma and Skin Cancer Center, The Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine, Hershey, PA, USA; Penn State Melanoma Therapeutics Program, The Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine, Hershey, PA, USA.
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Blagosklonny MV. From osimertinib to preemptive combinations. Oncotarget 2024; 15:232-237. [PMID: 38497774 PMCID: PMC10946407 DOI: 10.18632/oncotarget.28569] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/23/2024] [Accepted: 03/11/2024] [Indexed: 03/19/2024] Open
Abstract
Here, I suggest that while first-line osimertinib extends median progression-free survival (PFS) in EGFR-mutant lung cancer compared to first-generation TKIs, it reduces individual PFS in 15-20% of patients compared to first-generation TKIs. Since detecting a single resistant cell before treatment is usually impossible, osimertinib must be used in all patients as a first-line treatment, raising median PFS overall but harming some. The simplest remedy is a preemptive combination (PC) of osimertinib and gefitinib. A comprehensive PC (osimertinib, afatinib/gefitinib, and capmatinib) could dramatically increase PFS for 80% of patients compared to osimertinib alone, without harming anyone. This article also explores PCs for MET-driven lung cancer.
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Blagosklonny MV. My battle with cancer. Part 1. Oncoscience 2024; 11:1-14. [PMID: 38188499 PMCID: PMC10765422 DOI: 10.18632/oncoscience.593] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/26/2023] [Accepted: 12/26/2023] [Indexed: 01/09/2024] Open
Abstract
In January 2023, diagnosed with numerous metastases of lung cancer in my brain, I felt that I must accomplish a mission. If everything happens for a reason, my cancer, in particular, I must find out how metastatic cancer can be treated with curative intent. This is my mission now, and the reason I was ever born. In January 2023, I understood the meaning of life, of my life. I was born to write this article. In this article, I argue that monotherapy with targeted drugs, even when used in sequence, cannot cure metastatic cancer. However, preemptive combinations of targeted drugs may, in theory, cure incurable cancer. Also, I share insights on various topics, including rapamycin, an anti-aging drug that can delay but not prevent cancer, through my personal journey.
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Abstract
Prostate cancer (PCa) is a prevalent malignancy that occurs primarily in old males. Prostate tumors in different patients manifest significant inter-patient heterogeneity with respect to histo-morphological presentations and molecular architecture. An individual patient tumor also harbors genetically distinct clones in which PCa cells display intra-tumor heterogeneity in molecular features and phenotypic marker expression. This inherent PCa cell heterogeneity, e.g., in the expression of androgen receptor (AR), constitutes a barrier to the long-term therapeutic efficacy of AR-targeting therapies. Furthermore, tumor progression as well as therapeutic treatments induce PCa cell plasticity such that AR-positive PCa cells may turn into AR-negative cells and prostate tumors may switch lineage identity from adenocarcinomas to neuroendocrine-like tumors. This induced PCa cell plasticity similarly confers resistance to AR-targeting and other therapies. In this review, I first discuss PCa from the perspective of an abnormal organ development and deregulated cellular differentiation, and discuss the luminal progenitor cells as the likely cells of origin for PCa. I then focus on intrinsic PCa cell heterogeneity in treatment-naïve tumors with the presence of prostate cancer stem cells (PCSCs). I further elaborate on PCa cell plasticity induced by genetic alterations and therapeutic interventions, and present potential strategies to therapeutically tackle PCa cell heterogeneity and plasticity. My discussions will make it clear that, to achieve enduring clinical efficacy, both intrinsic PCa cell heterogeneity and induced PCa cell plasticity need to be targeted with novel combinatorial approaches.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dean G Tang
- Department of Pharmacology & Therapeutics, Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center, Buffalo, NY 14263, USA; Experimental Therapeutics (ET) Graduate Program, The University at Buffalo & Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center, Buffalo, NY 14263, USA.
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