Editorial: Pharmacogenetic landscape in human solid cancers.
Ontology highlight
ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Lastraioli E
PROVIDER: S-EPMC10800836 | biostudies-literature | 2023
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
Publications
Editorial: Pharmacogenetic landscape in human solid cancers.
Lastraioli Elena E Colombo Francesca F Frullanti Elisa E
Frontiers in oncology 20240108
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Project description:The homogeneity and heterogeneity in somatic mutations, copy number alterations and methylation across different cancer types have been extensively explored. However, the related exploration based on transcriptome data is lacking. In this study we explored gene expression profiles across 33 human cancer types using The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) data. We identified consistently upregulated genes (such as E2F1, EZH2, FOXM1, MYBL2, PLK1, TTK, AURKA/B and BUB1) and consistently downregulated genes (such as SCARA5, MYOM1, NKAPL, PEG3, USP2, SLC5A7 and HMGCLL1) across various cancers. The dysregulation of these genes is likely to be associated with poor clinical outcomes in cancer. The dysregulated pathways commonly in cancers include cell cycle, DNA replication, repair, and recombination, Notch signaling, p53 signaling, Wnt signaling, TGFβ signaling, immune response etc. We also identified genes consistently upregulated or downregulated in highly-advanced cancers compared to lowly-advanced cancers. The highly (low) expressed genes in highly-advanced cancers are likely to have higher (lower) expression levels in cancers than in normal tissue, indicating that common gene expression perturbations drive cancer initiation and cancer progression. In addition, we identified a substantial number of genes exclusively dysregulated in a single cancer type or inconsistently dysregulated in different cancer types, demonstrating the intertumor heterogeneity. More importantly, we found a number of genes commonly dysregulated in various cancers such as PLP1, MYOM1, NKAPL and USP2 which were investigated in few cancer related studies, and thus represent our novel findings. Our study provides comprehensive portraits of transcriptional landscape of human cancers.
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Project description:Simple Summary There are multiple strategies to target cancer cells, and among the rapidly evolving field is the use of bispecific antibodies and T-cell engagers in the treatment of cancers. These drugs work by recruiting and activating T-cells, a type of white blood cell, to recognize and attack cancer cells. These agents consist of two different antibody fragments: one that binds to a tumor antigen on cancer cells and another that binds to the CD3 receptor on T-cells. Once the T-cell engager binds to both the cancer cell and T-cell, it brings the T-cell into close proximity to the cancer cell, leading to the activation of T-cells and the release of cytokines and cytotoxic molecules that kill the cancer cell. T-cell engagers have shown promising results in the treatment of a variety of hematological malignancies. Research is ongoing to explore their use in the treatment of variety of solid cancers. Nevertheless, T-cell engagers can cause side effects like cytokine release syndrome and neurotoxicity. More research is ongoing to determine their long-term safety and effectiveness. Abstract Monoclonal antibody treatment initially heralded an era of molecularly targeted therapy in oncology and is now widely applied in modulating anti-cancer immunity by targeting programmed cell receptors (PD-1, PD-L1), cytotoxic T-lymphocyte-associated protein 4 (CTLA-4) and, more recently, lymphocyte-activation gene 3 (LAG3). Chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapy (CAR-T) recently proved to be a valid approach to inducing anti-cancer immunity by directly modifying the host’s immune cells. However, such cell-based therapy requires extensive resources such as leukapheresis, ex vivo modification and expansion of cytotoxic T-cells and current Good Manufacturing Practice (cGMP) laboratories and presents significant logistical challenges. Bi-/trispecific antibody technology is a novel pharmaceutical approach to facilitate the engagement of effector immune cells to potentially multiple cancer epitopes, e.g., the recently approved blinatumomab. This opens the opportunity to develop ‘off-the-shelf’ anti-cancer agents that achieve similar and/or complementary anti-cancer effects as those of modified immune cell therapy. The majority of bi-/trispecific antibodies target the tumor-associated antigens (TAA) located on the extracellular surface of cancer cells. The extracellular antigens represent just a small percentage of known TAAs and are often associated with higher toxicities because some of them are expressed on normal cells (off-target toxicity). In contrast, the targeting of intracellular TAAs such as mutant RAS and TP53 may lead to fewer off-target toxicities while still achieving the desired antitumor efficacy (on-target toxicity). Here, we provide a comprehensive review on the emerging field of bi-/tri-specific T-cell engagers and potential therapeutic opportunities.
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