Rethinking gamma-secretase inhibitors for treatment of non-small cell lung cancer: Is Notch the target?

Rethinking gamma-secretase inhibitors for treatment of non-small cell lung cancer: Is Notch the target? Clin Cancer Res. 2018 Aug 13;: Authors: Pine SR Abstract Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer deaths among men and women. Gamma-secretase inhibitors, a class of small molecule compounds that target the Notch pathway, have been tested to treat non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) in pre-clinical and clinical trials. Although ɣ-secretase inhibitors elicit a response in some tumors as single agents and sensitize NSCLC to cytotoxic and targeted therapies, they have not yet been approved for NSCLC therapy. We discuss our recently published pre-clinical study using the ɣ-secretase inhibitor AL101, formerly BMS906024, on cell lines and PDX models of NSCLC, primarily lung adenocarcinoma. We propose that Notch pathway mutations may not be the most suitable biomarker for predicting NSCLC response to ɣ-secretase inhibitors. Gamma-secretases have over 100 known γ-secretase cleavage substrates. Many of the ɣ-secretase substrates are directly involved in carcinogenesis or tumor progression, and are ideal candidates to be the "on-target" biomarkers for ɣ-secretase inhibitors. We propose the need to systematically test the ɣ-secretase and other targets as potential biomarkers for sensitivity before continuing clinical trials. Now that we have entered the post-genome/transcriptome era, this goal is easily attainable. Discovery of the bio...
Source: Clinical Cancer Research - Category: Cancer & Oncology Authors: Tags: Clin Cancer Res Source Type: research