Project description:Effective therapies for pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) have been largely elusive. Prior proteogenomic studies of PDAC have been limited to bulk samples limiting the ability to define tumor-intrinsic targets and understanding tumor heterogeneity. Here, we perform Multiplexed kinase Inhibitor Beads and Mass Spectrometry (MIB-MS) on 102 patient derived xenografts (PDX) derived from 14 unique primary PDAC to define the tumor-intrinsic kinome landscape. Our findings uncover three kinome subgroups making up two dominant tumor-intrinsic kinome subtypes that we call kinotypes. The kinotypes show enrichment of different kinase classes and explain the biological differences in previously described molecular subtypes, basal-like and classical. The kinotype characterizing basal-like tumors shows enrichment of receptor tyrosine kinases, whereas the kinotype characterizing classical tumors is enriched in understudied kinases involved in Wnt signaling and immune pathways. We validate our findings in two clinical trials and show that only patients with basal-like kinotype tumors, who are thought to be refractory to chemotherapy, derive significant benefit from EGFR inhibitors. Our results provide a comprehensive tumor-intrinsic kinome landscape of PDAC that strongly supports actionable kinotype specific kinase targets, potential for sensitive quantitation of patient samples, and provides a roadmap for the use of kinase inhibitors for the treatment of PDAC.
Project description:Lessons learned from the rapid deployment of vaccines during the COVID-19 pandemic are reinvigorating the cancer vaccine field. Using delivery platforms including mRNA and synthetic long peptides, recent clinical trials have demonstrated that cancer vaccines are safe, feasible, and can be associated with the generation of antigen-specific memory T cells and, in some cases, durable clinical responses. Despite these advances, fundamental questions remain regarding the optimal delivery platforms and antigen targets to use in cancer vaccines. Ongoing and future studies that harness advances in the identification of novel sources of antigens, the prediction of immunogenic antigens, and the use of single-cell technologies to profile antigen-specific T cells will hopefully reveal correlates with clinical outcomes and provide a mechanistic basis for future progress.
Project description:The poor prognosis of pancreatic cancer patients signifies a need for radically new therapeutic strategies. Tumor-targeted oncolytic viruses have emerged as attractive therapeutic candidates for cancer treatment due to their inherent ability to specifically target and lyse tumor cells as well as induce antitumor effects by multiple action mechanisms. Vaccinia virus has several inherent features that make it particularly suitable for use as an oncolytic agent. In this review, we will discuss the potential of vaccinia virus in the management of pancreatic cancer in light of our increased understanding of cellular and immunological mechanisms involved in the disease process as well as our extending knowledge in the biology of vaccinia virus.
Project description:Diabetic retinopathy is a common microvascular complication of diabetes mellitus. It affects a substantial proportion of US adults over age 40. The condition is a leading cause of visual loss. Much attention has been given to expanding the role of current treatments along with investigating various novel therapies and drug delivery methods. In the treatment of diabetic macular edema (DME), intravitreal pharmacotherapies, especially anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (anti-VEGF) agents, have gained popularity. Currently, anti-VEGF agents are often used as first-line agents in center-involved DME, with recent data suggesting that among these agents, aflibercept leads to better visual outcomes in patients with worse baseline visual acuities. While photocoagulation remains the standard treatment for proliferative diabetic retinopathy (PDR), recent FDA approvals of ranibizumab and aflibercept in the management of diabetic retinopathy associated with DME may suggest a potential for pharmacologic treatments of PDR as well. Novel therapies, including small interfering RNAs, chemokines, kallikrein-kinin inhibitors, and various anti-angiogenic agents, are currently being evaluated for the management of diabetic retinopathy and DME. In addition to these strategies, novel drug delivery methods such as sustained-release implants and refillable reservoir implants are either under active evaluation or have recently gained FDA approval. This review provides an update on the novel developments in the treatment of diabetic retinopathy.
Project description:Myelofibrosis is often associated with the myeloproliferative neoplasms and expression of oncogenic JAK2 mutants. Patients with myelofibrosis have diminished quality of life due to systemic symptoms arising from fibrotic changes in the bone marrow. The introduction of the JAK2 inhibitor, ruxolitinib, has been of benefit in the treatment of myelofibrosis patients however, it is not curative and there is still a requirement for new targeted therapies to eradicate the cells at the heart of myelofibrosis pathology. Repurposing drugs bypasses many of the hurdles present in drug development, such as toxicity and pharmacodynamic profiling. To this end we undertook a re-analysis of our pre-existing proteomic data sets to identify perturbed biochemical pathways and their associated drugs/inhibitors to potentially target the cells driving myelofibrosis. This approach identified CBL0137 as a candidate for targeting JAK2 mutant driven malignancies. We therefore assessed CBL0137 as a new agent to extinguish JAK2 mutant primitive cells and show its ability to preferentially target cells from MF patients compared to healthy control cells. Further we define its mechanistic action in primary haemopoietic progenitor cells and demonstrate its ability to reduce splenomegaly and reticulocyte number in a transgenic murine model of myeloproliferative neoplasms.