Search PubMed⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

Douglas W Ball

Publications and source records attributed to Douglas W Ball.

15 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2007

Medullary thyroid cancer: therapeutic targets and molecular markers.

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: The present review will provide an update of important studies in medullary thyroid cancer (MTC) with an emphasis on targeted preclinical and translational research studies published over the past 2 years. RECENT FINDINGS: Recent advances in the biology of MTC, particularly in RET proto-oncogene signaling, are now being translated into promising new therapies and biomarkers. Multifunction tyrosine kinase inhibitors that target RET, plus vascular endothelial growth factor receptors and additional kinases, are now being evaluated in Phase II clinical trials in MTC. Important unanswered questions include the optimal means for selecting high-risk patients, appropriate biomarkers for monitoring kinase inhibitor trials, and trial endpoints. Similar to ABL, epidermal growth factor receptors and other kinases, individual mutant RET forms have differential sensitivity to different inhibitors. In addition to RET, an old marker, calcitonin, has assumed increasing importance, but may not adequately reflect changes in tumor burden in RET inhibitor trials. A number of new therapeutic strategies are being developed that could be appropriate for the approximately 50% of patients who lack RET mutations in their tumors. SUMMARY: Progress is being made toward effective targeted MTC therapy. Patients with advanced, progressive MTC should be considered for enrollment in clinical trials.

Antineoplastic Agents↗
PubMed2006

Cyclin-dependent kinase 5 activity controls cell motility and metastatic potential of prostate cancer cells.

We show here that cyclin-dependent kinase 5 (CDK5), a known regulator of migration in neuronal development, plays an important role in prostate cancer motility and metastasis. P35, an activator of CDK5 that is indicative of its activity, is expressed in a panel of human and rat prostate cancer cell lines, and is also expressed in 87.5% of the human metastatic prostate cancers we examined. Blocking of CDK5 activity with a dominant-negative CDK5 construct, small interfering RNA, or roscovitine resulted in changes in the microtubule cytoskeleton, loss of cellular polarity, and loss of motility. Expression of a dominant-negative CDK5 in the highly metastatic Dunning AT6.3 prostate cancer cell line also greatly impaired invasive capacity. CDK5 activity was important for spontaneous metastasis in vivo; xenografts of AT6.3 cells expressing dominant-negative CDK5 had less than one-fourth the number of lung metastases exhibited by AT6.3 cells expressing the empty vector. These results show that CDK5 activity controls cell motility and metastatic potential in prostate cancer.

Adaptor Proteins, Signal Transducing↗
PubMed2005

Activity of irinotecan and the tyrosine kinase inhibitor CEP-751 in medullary thyroid cancer.

CONTEXT: Medullary thyroid cancer (MTC) is a cancer of the parafollicular C cells that commonly presents with an inherited or acquired RET gene mutation. There is currently no effective systemic treatment for MTC. OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to investigate a systemic therapeutic approach to treat MTC. We studied the sensitivity of an MTC cell line and xenograft to irinotecan, alone and in combination with the tyrosine kinase inhibitor, CEP-751. RESULTS: In TT cell culture and xenografts, irinotecan treatment was highly effective. This effect was augmented by treatment with CEP-751. Treatment of TT cell xenografts resulted in durable complete remission in 100% of the mice, with median time to recurrence of 70 d for irinotecan alone and more than 130 d for irinotecan plus CEP-751. Although irinotecan induced an S phase checkpoint arrest in TT cells, CEP-751 in combination with irinotecan resulted in a loss of this arrest. CEP-751 induced a loss in the induction of the DNA repair program marked by phospho-H2AX and the checkpoint pathway marked by the activated Chk1 pathway. CONCLUSIONS: Irinotecan treatment was highly effective in a preclinical model of human MTC, resulting in complete remission in 100% of the xenografts treated. The duration of remission was further enhanced by combination with the kinase inhibitor, CEP-751. These results suggest that irinotecan, alone or in combination, may be useful for the treatment of MTC.

Animals↗
PubMed2005

Regulation of neuroendocrine differentiation in gastrointestinal carcinoid tumor cells by notch signaling.

CONTEXT: Gastrointestinal (GI) carcinoid tumors elaborate serotonin and other vasoactive substances, causing the carcinoid syndrome. Based on developmental biology data, we hypothesized that basic helix-loop-helix transcription factors, including achaete-scute complex homolog-like 1 (Ascl1)/hASH1, and the Notch signaling pathway might regulate the neuroendocrine phenotype in GI carcinoids. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to evaluate expression of developmental transcription factors and Notch signaling components in GI carcinoids and model their interaction in a relevant GI carcinoid cell line. DESIGN: Fourteen GI carcinoid tumor specimens, five paired adjacent normal tissues, fetal tissues, and tumor cell lines were analyzed by RT-PCR and immunoblot. BON carcinoid cells were further analyzed after Notch overexpression for neuroendocrine marker expression, serotonin production, and growth. SETTING: The study was conducted in an academic referral center. PATIENTS OR OTHER PARTICIPANTS: Deidentified archival pathology specimens were examined. RESULTS: Among a panel of six developmental transcription factors tested, only Ascl1 mRNA was overexpressed compared with surrounding normal tissue (seven of 10 GI carcinoid tumors and in BON cells, none of five normal tissues). Ascl1 protein was also expressed in four of four carcinoid tumors and BON cells). Notch pathway ligands, receptors, and downstream effectors were widely expressed in tumor and normal specimens. Overexpression of activated Notch1 in BON cells led to induction of the Notch effector hairy and enhancer of split 1 (Hes1), loss of Ascl1, reductions in neuron-specific enolase, synaptophysin, and chromogranin A, and most significantly, an 89% decrease in serotonin concentration and equivalent reductions in serotonin-reactive cells and repression of tryptophan hydroxylase 1 mRNA. CONCLUSIONS: The Notch signaling pathway is a significant regulator of neuroendocrine differentiation and serotonin production in GI carcinoid tumors.

Basic Helix-Loop-Helix Proteins↗
PubMed2005

GDNF-induced leukemia inhibitory factor can mediate differentiation via the MEK/ERK pathway in pheochromocytoma cells derived from nf1-heterozygous knockout mice.

Glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF) can induce neuron-like differentiation of mouse pheochromocytoma (MPC) cell lines derived from mice with a heterozygous knockout mutation of nf1, the murine counterpart of the human gene mutated in neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1). Here, we show that GDNF-induced differentiation in the MPC 862L cell line is mediated by the MEK/extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) pathway. Neurite outgrowth, increased expression of growth-associated protein 43, and decreased incorporation of bromodeoxyuridine (BrdU) were induced by treatment with GDNF, H-RasV12, or a constitutively active MEK2. GDNF also induces leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF) via the MEK/ERK pathway, and LIF itself can elicit these differentiative changes via a cell-extrinsic autocrine/paracrine pathway. Treatment with anti-LIF neutralizing antibody depleted the differentiative activity of the conditioned medium from cells stimulated for MEK/ERK signaling, while recombinant LIF could induce differentiation in MPC cells, indicating that LIF is the sole factor with differentiative activity. LIF could activate MEK1/2 and STAT3, but LIF-induced differentiation was blocked only by the MEK1/2-specific inhibitor U0126, indicating that the MEK/ERK pathway is necessary for LIF action in MPC cells. Our findings suggest that LIF may be utilized for signaling mediated by GDNF and may be important in the pathobiology of neuroendocrine tumors.

Animals↗
PubMed2005

Thyroid carcinoma.

Explore the source record for details and available documents.

Biomarkers, Tumor↗
PubMed2004

Interleukin-1beta can mediate growth arrest and differentiation via the leukemia inhibitory factor/JAK/STAT pathway in medullary thyroid carcinoma cells.

Interleukin-1beta (IL-1beta) is a pleiotropic cytokine that can induce several cellular signal transduction pathways. Here, we show that IL-1beta can induce cell cycle arrest and differentiation in the human medullary thyroid carcinoma (MTC) cell line, TT. IL-1beta induces cell cycle arrest accompanied by morphological changes and expression of the neuroendocrine marker calcitonin. These changes are blocked by the MEK1/2 specific inhibitor U0126, indicating that MEK1/2 is essential for IL-1beta signaling in TT cells. IL-1beta induces expression of leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF) and activation of STAT3 via the MEK/ERK pathway. This activation of STAT3 could be abrogated by treatment with anti-LIF neutralizing antibody or anti-gp130 blocking antibody, indicating that induction of LIF expression is sufficient and essential for STAT3 activation by IL-1beta. In addition to activation of the LIF/JAK/STAT pathway, IL-1beta also induced an MEK/ERK-mediated intracellular cell-autonomous signaling pathway that is independently sufficient for growth arrest and differentiation. Thus, IL-1beta activates the MEK/ERK pathway to induce growth arrest and differentiation in MTC cells via dual independent signaling mechanisms, the cell-extrinsic LIF/JAK/STAT pathway, and the cell-intrinsic autonomous signaling pathway.

Antigens, CD↗
PubMed2004

Notch inhibits Ptf1 function and acinar cell differentiation in developing mouse and zebrafish pancreas.

Notch signaling regulates cell fate decisions in a variety of adult and embryonic tissues, and represents a characteristic feature of exocrine pancreatic cancer. In developing mouse pancreas, targeted inactivation of Notch pathway components has defined a role for Notch in regulating early endocrine differentiation, but has been less informative with respect to a possible role for Notch in regulating subsequent exocrine differentiation events. Here, we show that activated Notch and Notch target genes actively repress completion of an acinar cell differentiation program in developing mouse and zebrafish pancreas. In developing mouse pancreas, the Notch target gene Hes1 is co-expressed with Ptf1-P48 in exocrine precursor cells, but not in differentiated amylase-positive acinar cells. Using lentiviral delivery systems to induce ectopic Notch pathway activation in explant cultures of E10.5 mouse dorsal pancreatic buds, we found that both Hes1 and Notch1-IC repress acinar cell differentiation, but not Ptf1-P48 expression, in a cell-autonomous manner. Ectopic Notch activation also delays acinar cell differentiation in developing zebrafish pancreas. Further evidence of a role for endogenous Notch in regulating exocrine pancreatic differentiation was provided by examination of zebrafish embryos with homozygous mindbomb mutations, in which Notch signaling is disrupted. mindbomb-deficient embryos display accelerated differentiation of exocrine pancreas relative to wild-type clutchmate controls. A similar phenotype was induced by expression of a dominant-negative Suppressor of Hairless [Su(H)] construct, confirming that Notch actively represses acinar cell differentiation during zebrafish pancreatic development. Using transient transfection assays involving a Ptf1-responsive reporter gene, we further demonstrate that Notch and Notch/Su(H) target genes directly inhibit Ptf1 activity, independent of changes in expression of Ptf1 component proteins. These results define a normal inhibitory role for Notch in the regulation of exocrine pancreatic differentiation.

Adenoviridae↗
PubMed2004

Achaete-scute homolog-1 and Notch in lung neuroendocrine development and cancer.

Achaete-scute homolog-1 (termed Mash1 in rodents, hASH1 in humans) is a basic helix-loop-helix transcription factor important in early development of neural and neuroendocrine (NE) progenitor cells in multiple tissues including the CNS, autonomic nervous system, adrenal medulla, thyroid, lung, and prostate, among others. This review discusses how progress in developmental neurobiology of Mash1 has translated into novel insights in NE tumor biology, particularly for small cell lung cancer. Inhibition of this factor by the Notch pathway is essential in regulating NE commitment in airway epithelial precursor cells, and may play a comparable role in modulating phenotypes of lung cancer and other tumors.

Animals↗
PubMed2004

Notch in lung development and lung cancer.

Although data regarding the role of the Notch pathway in human lung cancer are still limited, fetal lung developmental studies suggest that Notch signaling plays a critical role in regulating airway epithelial development. The moderate hypotrophic phenotype of lungs from animals bearing a Hes1 mutation, and the expression of Notch components in the distal lung bud during branching morphogenesis, together suggest that Notch may play a role in normal lung growth, especially in Clara cell precursors. Non-small cell lung cancers, including adenocarcinoma, appear to actively utilize this conserved developmental pathway. Pharmacologic inhibition of the Notch pathway is a potential experimental approach to lung cancer treatment.

Animals↗
PubMed2003

CEP-701 and CEP-751 inhibit constitutively activated RET tyrosine kinase activity and block medullary thyroid carcinoma cell growth.

All of the cases of medullary thyroid carcinoma (MTC) express the RET receptor tyrosine kinase. In essentially all of the hereditary cases and approximately 40% of the sporadic cases of MTC, the RET kinase is constitutively activated by mutation. This suggests that RET may be an effective therapeutic target for treatment of MTC. We show that the indolocarbazole derivatives, CEP-701 and CEP-751, inhibit RET in MTC cells. These compounds effectively inhibit RET phosphorylation in a dose-dependent manner at concentrations <100 nM in 0.5% serum and at somewhat higher concentrations in the presence of 16% serum. They also blocked the growth of these MTC cells in culture. CEP-751 and its prodrug, CEP-2563, also inhibited tumor growth in MTC cell xenografts. These results show that inhibiting RET can block the growth of MTC cells and may have a therapeutic benefit in MTC.

Animals↗
PubMed2003

Notch mediates TGF alpha-induced changes in epithelial differentiation during pancreatic tumorigenesis.

Notch signaling regulates cell fate decisions in a wide variety of adult and embryonic tissues. Here we show that Notch pathway components and Notch target genes are upregulated in invasive pancreatic cancer, as well as in pancreatic cancer precursors from both mouse and human. In mouse pancreas, ectopic Notch activation results in accumulation of nestin-positive precursor cells and expansion of metaplastic ductal epithelium, previously identified as a precursor lesion for pancreatic cancer. Notch is also activated as a direct consequence of EGF receptor activation in exocrine pancreas and is required for TGF alpha-induced changes in epithelial differentiation. These findings suggest that Notch mediates the tumor-initiating effects of TG alpha by expanding a population of undifferentiated precursor cells.

Animals↗
PubMed2003

The Ras/Raf/MEK/extracellular signal-regulated kinase pathway induces autocrine-paracrine growth inhibition via the leukemia inhibitory factor/JAK/STAT pathway.

Sustained activation of the Ras/Raf/MEK/extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) pathway can lead to cell cycle arrest in many cell types. We have found, with human medullary thyroid cancer (MTC) cells, that activated Ras or c-Raf-1 can induce growth arrest by producing and secreting an autocrine-paracrine factor. This protein was purified from cell culture medium conditioned by Raf-activated MTC cells and was identified by mass spectrometry as leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF). LIF expression upon Raf activation and subsequent activation of JAK-STAT3 was also observed in small cell lung carcinoma cells, suggesting that this autocrine-paracrine signaling may be a common response to Ras/Raf activation. LIF was sufficient to induce growth arrest and differentiation of MTC cells. This effect was mediated through the gp130/JAK/STAT3 pathway, since anti-gp130 blocking antibody or dominant-negative STAT3 blocked the effects of LIF. Thus, LIF expression provides a novel mechanism allowing Ras/Raf signaling to activate the JAK-STAT3 pathway. In addition to this cell-extrinsic growth inhibitory pathway, we find that the Ras/Raf/MEK/ERK pathway induces an intracellular growth inhibitory signal, independent of the LIF/JAK/STAT3 pathway. Therefore, activation of the Ras/Raf/MEK/ERK pathway can lead to growth arrest and differentiation via at least two different signaling pathways. This use of multiple pathways may be important for "fail-safe" induction and maintenance of cell cycle arrest.

Adenoviridae↗
PubMed2002

Notch signaling induces rapid degradation of achaete-scute homolog 1.

In neural development, Notch signaling plays a key role in restricting neuronal differentiation, promoting the maintenance of progenitor cells. Classically, Notch signaling causes transactivation of Hairy-enhancer of Split (HES) genes which leads to transcriptional repression of neural determination and differentiation genes. We now report that in addition to its known transcriptional mechanism, Notch signaling also leads to rapid degradation of the basic helix-loop-helix (bHLH) transcription factor human achaete-scute homolog 1 (hASH1). Using recombinant adenoviruses expressing active Notch1 in small-cell lung cancer cells, we showed that the initial appearance of Notch1 coincided with the loss of hASH1 protein, preceding the full decay of hASH1 mRNA. Overexpression of HES1 alone was capable of down-regulating hASH1 mRNA but could not replicate the acute reduction of hASH1 protein induced by Notch1. When adenoviral hASH1 was coinfected with Notch1, we still observed a dramatic and abrupt loss of the exogenous hASH1 protein, despite high levels of ongoing hASH1 RNA expression. Notch1 treatment decreased the apparent half-life of the adenoviral hASH1 protein and increased the fraction of hASH1 which was polyubiquitinylated. The proteasome inhibitor MG132 reversed the Notch1-induced degradation. The Notch RAM domain was dispensable but a lack of the OPA and PEST domains inactivated this Notch1 action. Overexpression of the hASH1-dimerizing partner E12 could protect hASH1 from degradation. This novel function of activated Notch to rapidly degrade a class II bHLH protein may prove to be important in many contexts in development and in cancer.

Animals↗