Cancer Cells with Alternative Lengthening of Telomeres Do Not Display a General Hypersensitivity to ATR Inhibition.

ABSTRACT: Telomere maintenance is a hallmark of cancer as it provides cancer cells with cellular immortality. A significant fraction of tumors uses the alternative lengthening of telomeres (ALT) pathway to elongate their telomeres and to gain an unlimited proliferation potential. Since the ALT pathway is unique to cancer cells, it represents a potentially valuable, currently unexploited target for anti-cancer therapies. Recently, it was proposed that ALT renders cells hypersensitive to ataxia telangiectasia- and RAD3-related (ATR) protein inhibitors (Flynn et al., Science 347, 273). Here, we measured the response of various ALT- or telomerase-positive cell lines to the ATR inhibitor VE-821. In addition, we compared the effect of the inhibitor on cell viability in isogenic cell lines, in which ALT wa

SUBMITTER: Deeg KI 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4993795 | biostudies-literature | 2016

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature