Immuno-Oncology Advances in Applied Cellular Analysis - 13

Advances in Applied Cellular Analysis * Discovery of New Tumor-Promoting Pathway

The ERK pathway plays a critical role in embryonic development and tissue repair because it
instructs cells to multiply and start dividing, but
when overactivated cancer growth often occurs.
"Therapies aimed at targeting ERK1/2 likely fail
because this mechanism is allowing proliferation
through a different pathway," noted senior study
author Eyal Raz, M.D., professor of medicine
at UCSD School of Medicine. "Previously, ERK5
didn't seem important in colorectal cancer. This
is an underappreciated escape pathway for
tumor cells. Hence, the combination of ERK1/2
and ERK5 inhibitors may lead to more effective

treatments for colorectal cancer patients."
Currently, there are 1.2 million people living with
CRC in the United States, making it the third most
common cancer among men and women. In 2016
alone, an estimated 134,490 new cases are expected to be diagnosed, so understanding the molecular mechanisms that drive tumor promotion are
paramount to treating this disease effectively.
"If you block one pathway, cancer cells usually
mutate and find another pathway that ultimately
allows for a recurrence of cancer growth,"
remarked co-lead study author Koji Taniguchi,

"We show that loss of ERK1/2 in intestinal
epithelial cells results in defects in nutrient
absorption, epithelial cell migration, and
secretory cell differentiation..."

13

| GENengnews.com

M.D., Ph.D., senior researcher at the Keio University
School of Medicine in Tokyo. "Usually, mutations
occur over weeks or months. But other times, as in
this case, the tumor does not need to develop
mutations to find an escape route from targeted
therapy. When you find the compensatory pathway and block both, there is no more escape."
The researchers were excited by their findings,
but urged caution at over interpretation of their
initial findings and suggested that other classes
of inhibitors be tested in combination with ERK5
inhibitors in human CRC cells in preclinical mouse
models before any patient trial can begin. n

http://www.GENengnews.com

Immuno-Oncology Advances in Applied Cellular Analysis

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Immuno-Oncology Advances in Applied Cellular Analysis