| Small Molecule Inhibition of ERK Dimerization Prevents Tumorigenesis by RAS-ERK Pathway Oncogenes. | | Small Molecule Inhibition of ERK Dimerization Prevents Tumorigenesis by RAS-ERK Pathway Oncogenes. | Herrero A, Pinto A, Colón-Bolea P, Casar B, Jones M, Agudo-Ibáñez L, Vidal R, Tenbaum SP, Nuciforo P, Valdizán EM, Horvath Z, Orfi L, Pineda-Lucena A, Bony E, Keri G, Rivas G, Pazos A, Gozalbes R, Palmer HG, Hurlstone A, Crespo P. | 2015-08-09T22:00:00Z | <div style="text-align:justify;"><br></div><p style="text-align:justify;"><span class="ms-rteThemeFontFace-1 ms-rteFontSize-2"><span class="ms-rteThemeForeColor-2-5 ms-rteThemeFontFace-1 ms-rteFontSize-2" style="font-weight:bold;">Abstract</span><br></span></p><div style="color:#000000;font-family:-webkit-standard;text-align:justify;"><p style="margin-bottom:0.5em;font-size:1.04em;font-family:arial, helvetica, clean, sans-serif;"><span class="ms-rteThemeFontFace-1 ms-rteFontSize-2">Nearly 50% of human malignancies exhibit unregulated RAS-ERK signaling; inhibiting it is a valid strategy for antineoplastic intervention. Upon activation, ERK dimerize, which is essential for ERK extranuclear, but not for nuclear, signaling. Here, we describe a small molecule inhibitor for ERK dimerization that, without affecting ERK phosphorylation, forestalls tumorigenesis driven by RAS-ERK pathway oncogenes. This compound is unaffected by resistance mechanisms that hamper classical RAS-ERK pathway inhibitors. Thus, ERK dimerization inhibitors provide the proof of principle for two understudied concepts in cancer therapy: (1) the blockade of sub-localization-specific sub-signals, rather than total signals, as a means of impeding oncogenic RAS-ERK signaling and (2) targeting regulatory protein-protein interactions, rather than catalytic activities, as an approach for producing effective antitumor agents.</span><br></p></div> | <p>Cancer Cell. 2015 Aug 10 [<a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26267534">PubMed</a>]<br></p> | 48 | | |
