casein-kinase-ii and Carcinoma--Ovarian-Epithelial

Tumor recurrence, acquired resistance and metastasis have severely limited the effect of clinical treatments for epithelial ovarian cancer. Recent researches reveal that cancer stem cells play important roles in the process of cisplatin-induced resistance and cancer cell metastasis. A platinum(II) complex (HY1-Pt) owning casein kinase 2 specificity reported in our recent research was herein applied to treat cisplatin-sensitive and cisplatin-resistant epithelial ovarian cancers, respectively, anticipating to achieve high anti-tumor efficacy. HY1-Pt showed highly efficient anti-tumor effect with low toxicity for either cisplatin-sensitive or cisplatin-resistant epithelial ovarian cancer both in vitro and in vivo. Biological studies indicated that HY1-Pt as a casein kinase 2 inhibitor could effectively overcome cisplatin resistance through the signaling pathway of Wnt/β-catenin by inhibiting expression of the signature genes of cancer stemness cells in A2780/CDDP cells. Moreover, HY1-Pt could suppress tumor migration and invasion in vitro and in vivo, further proving that HY1-Pt can be a potent novel platinum(II) agent for cisplatin-resistant epithelial ovarian cancer treatment.

Topics: Antineoplastic Agents; Carcinoma, Ovarian Epithelial; Casein Kinase II; Cell Line, Tumor; Cisplatin; Drug Resistance, Neoplasm; Female; Humans; Neoplasm Recurrence, Local; Ovarian Neoplasms; Platinum

Ten-eleven translocation methylcytosine dioxygenase-1, TET1, takes part in active DNA demethylation. However, our understanding of DNA demethylation in cancer biology and its clinical significance remain limited. This study showed that TET1 expression correlated with poor survival in advanced-stage epithelial ovarian carcinoma (EOC), and with cell migration, anchorage-independent growth, cancer stemness, and tumorigenicity. In particular, TET1 was highly expressed in serous tubal intraepithelial carcinoma (STIC), a currently accepted type II EOC precursor, and inversely correlated with TP53 mutations. Moreover, TET1 could demethylate the epigenome and activate multiple oncogenic pathways, including an immunomodulation network having casein kinase II subunit alpha (CK2α) as a hub. Patients with TET1

Topics: Animals; Carcinoma, Ovarian Epithelial; Casein Kinase II; Cell Line, Tumor; Cell Movement; Cell Proliferation; Cystadenocarcinoma, Serous; Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition; Fallopian Tube Neoplasms; Female; Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic; Humans; Mice, Nude; Mixed Function Oxygenases; Ovarian Neoplasms; Prognosis; Proto-Oncogene Proteins

Epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) is one of the deadly gynecological malignancies. The function of protein kinase CK2α (CK2α) in EOC is still unknown. Our study aimed to investigate the relationship between the protein expression of CK2α and the tumor progression, the prognosis of human EOC. In this study, we analyzed the expression levels of CK2α through Western blot, using EOC cell lines like A2780, HO8910, COV644, OVCAR3, SKOV3, and the primary normal ovarian surface epithelial (NOSE) cells. Furthermore, OVCAR3 and SKOV3 EOC cells were employed as a cellular model to study the role of CK2α on cell growth, migration, invasion, apoptosis, and cell cycle distribution. In addition, we investigated CK2α protein expression in tumor tissues from patients with EOC by immunohistochemistry and analyzed the association between CK2α expression and clinicopathologic parameters and prognosis of EOC patients. And we found that compared with NOSE cells, CK2α protein expression was increased in A2780, HO8910, OVCAR3, and SKOV3 ovarian cancer cell lines. Decreased CK2α expression suppressed OVCAR3 and SKOV3 cell growth and induced more apoptosis. CK2α knockdown using specific siRNAs inhibited migration and invasion ability of OVCAR3 and SKOV3 cells. In addition, high CK2α protein expression was found in 68.4% (80/117) of EOC patients. Increased CK2α expression of was significantly correlated with FIGO staging and peritoneal cytology. Patients with higher CK2α expression had a significantly poorer overall survival compared with those with lower CK2α expression. Multi-variate Cox regression analysis proved that increased CK2α expression was an independent prognostic marker for EOC. Taken together, our data displayed that CK2α may play a role in tumor aggressive behavior of EOC and could be used as a marker for predicting prognosis of EOC patient. High CK2α expression might predict poor patient survival.

Topics: Aged; Apoptosis; Biomarkers, Tumor; Carcinoma, Ovarian Epithelial; Casein Kinase II; Cell Cycle; Cell Line; Cell Line, Tumor; Cell Movement; Cell Proliferation; Female; Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic; Humans; Middle Aged; Neoplasm Staging; Neoplasms, Glandular and Epithelial; Ovarian Neoplasms; Prognosis; Proportional Hazards Models

Molecular targeted therapies have been the focus of recent clinical trials for the treatment of patients with recurrent epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC). The majority have not fared well as monotherapies for improving survival of these patients. Poor bioavailability, lack of predictive biomarkers, and the presence of multiple survival pathways can all diminish the success of a targeted agent. Dasatinib is a tyrosine kinase inhibitor of the Src-family kinases (SFK) and in preclinical studies shown to have substantial activity in EOC. However, when evaluated in a phase 2 clinical trial for patients with recurrent or persistent EOC, it was found to have minimal activity. We hypothesized that synthetic lethality screens performed using a cogently designed siRNA library would identify second-site molecular targets that could synergize with SFK inhibition and improve dasatinib efficacy. Using a systematic approach, we performed primary siRNA screening using a library focused on 638 genes corresponding to a network centered on EGFR, HER2, and the SFK-scaffolding proteins BCAR1, NEDD9, and EFS to screen EOC cells in combination with dasatinib. We followed up with validation studies including deconvolution screening, quantitative PCR to confirm effective gene silencing, correlation of gene expression with dasatinib sensitivity, and assessment of the clinical relevance of hits using TCGA ovarian cancer data. A refined list of five candidates (CSNK2A1, DAG1, GRB2, PRKCE, and VAV1) was identified as showing the greatest potential for improving sensitivity to dasatinib in EOC. Of these, CSNK2A1, which codes for the catalytic alpha subunit of protein kinase CK2, was selected for additional evaluation. Synergistic activity of the clinically relevant inhibitor of CK2, CX-4945, with dasatinib in reducing cell proliferation and increasing apoptosis was observed across multiple EOC cell lines. This overall approach to improving drug efficacy can be applied to other targeted agents that have similarly shown poor clinical activity.

Topics: Antineoplastic Agents; Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols; Apoptosis; Carcinoma, Ovarian Epithelial; Casein Kinase II; Cell Line, Tumor; Cell Proliferation; Dasatinib; Drug Synergism; Dystroglycans; Female; Gene Library; GRB2 Adaptor Protein; Humans; Naphthyridines; Neoplasms, Glandular and Epithelial; Ovarian Neoplasms; Phenazines; Protein Kinase C-epsilon; Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-vav; RNA, Small Interfering