Effective treatment of lung cancer has been challenging despite finding the KRAS gene as a target for treating lung cancer. The KRAS pathway is now explored to find what makes it cancerous.
A new study from researchers at the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center sheds light on the KRAS pathway with a potential target that might have more success at stopping lung cancer growth.
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The researchers found that a protein called FADD picks up a phosphate for a specific amino acid when KRAS is active, a process called phosphorylation. They engineered mouse models of lung cancer. In one set, they turned on KRAS and deleted FADD from the mouse's genome. In another set, they turned on KRAS and left FADD to work normally. The mice with deleted FADD did not get tumors, despite having active KRAS.
Phosphorylation happens to FADD through a protein called casein kinase 1-alpha, or CK1-alpha. So the researchers took the KRAS mouse model and deleted CK1-alpha from the genome. FADD was left alone. They found that in the absence of CK1-alpha, FADD never gets phosphorylated and the mice never get tumors despite having activated KRAS.
![Foods that Fight Cancer]( "Foods that Fight Cancer")
A plateful of fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains and legumes is the best diet to fight most types of cancer. Avoid meat and saturated fats.
"We don't have effective ways of targeting KRAS directly, so we have to go downstream to attack. This study shows that casein kinase 1-alpha is a bonafide target for treatment of KRAS-mutated lung cancer," says corresponding study author Alnawaz Rehemtulla, Ph.D., Ruth Tuttle Freeman Research Professor of radiation oncology and radiology and co-director of the Center for Molecular Imaging at the University of Michigan Medical School.
Up to a quarter of lung cancers involve mutations in KRAS. No inhibitors of KRAS are currently available.
"Figuring out how KRAS causes cells to divide is important and gives us potential avenues for blocking the downstream activity and inhibiting lung tumor growth," Rehemtulla says.
The study is published on the cover of the Jan. 27 issue of Science Signaling.
A CK1-alpha inhibitor was used in this study and is currently being developed in laboratory settings. More work is needed before any potential clinical testing can begin.
Additional authors: Brittany Bowman, Katrina A. Sebolt, Benjamin A. Hoff, Jennifer L. Boes, Danette L. Daniels, Kevin A. Heist, Craig J. Galban, Rajiv M. Patel, Jianke Zhang, David G. Beer, Brian D. Ross, Stefanie Galban
Funding: National Cancer Institute grants R01 CA129623, P50 CA093990
Source: Newswise
Foods that Fight Cancer
A plateful of fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains and legumes is the best diet to fight most types of cancer. Avoid meat and saturated fats.
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"We don't have effective ways of targeting KRAS directly, so we have to go downstream to attack. This study shows that casein kinase 1-alpha is a bonafide target for treatment of KRAS-mutated lung cancer," says corresponding study author Alnawaz Rehemtulla, Ph.D., Ruth Tuttle Freeman Research Professor of radiation oncology and radiology and co-director of the Center for Molecular Imaging at the University of Michigan Medical School.
Up to a quarter of lung cancers involve mutations in KRAS. No inhibitors of KRAS are currently available.
"Figuring out how KRAS causes cells to divide is important and gives us potential avenues for blocking the downstream activity and inhibiting lung tumor growth," Rehemtulla says.
The study is published on the cover of the Jan. 27 issue of Science Signaling.
A CK1-alpha inhibitor was used in this study and is currently being developed in laboratory settings. More work is needed before any potential clinical testing can begin.
Additional authors: Brittany Bowman, Katrina A. Sebolt, Benjamin A. Hoff, Jennifer L. Boes, Danette L. Daniels, Kevin A. Heist, Craig J. Galban, Rajiv M. Patel, Jianke Zhang, David G. Beer, Brian D. Ross, Stefanie Galban
Funding: National Cancer Institute grants R01 CA129623, P50 CA093990
Source: Newswise
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