Faculty Publications

Recurrent/metastatic head and neck cancer remains a devastating disease with insufficient treatment options. We investigated the MET receptor tyrosine kinase as a novel target for the treatment of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC). MET/phosphorylated MET and HGF expression was analyzed in 121 tissues (HNSCC/normal) by immunohistochemistry, and in 20 HNSCC cell lines by immunoblotting. The effects of MET inhibition using small interfering RNA/two small-molecule inhibitors (SU11274/PF-2341066) on signaling, migration, viability, and angiogenesis were determined. The complete MET gene was sequenced in 66 head and neck cancer tissue samples and eight cell lines. MET gene copy number was determined in 14 cell lines and 23 tumor tissues. Drug combinations of SU11274 with cisplatin or erlotinib were tested in SCC35/HN5 cell lines. Eighty-four percent of the HNSCC samples showed MET overexpression, whereas 18 of 20 HNSCC cell lines (90%) expressed MET. HGF overexpression was present in 45% of HNSCC. MET inhibition with SU11274/PF-2341066 abrogated MET signaling, cell viability, motility/migration in vitro, and tumor angiogenesis in vivo. Mutational analysis of 66 tumor tissues and 8 cell lines identified novel mutations in the semaphorin (T230M/EI68D/N375S), juxta-membrane (T1010I/R988C), and tyrosine kinase (T12751/V1333I) domains (incidence: 13.5%). Increased MET gene copy number was present with >10 copies in 3 of 23 (13%) tumor tissues. A greater-than-additive inhibition of cell growth was observed when combining a MET inhibitor with cisplatin or erlotinib and synergy may be mediated via erbB3/AKT signaling. MET is functionally important in HNSCC with prominent overexpression, increased gene copy number, and mutations. MET inhibition abrogated MET functions, including proliferation, migration/motility, and angiogenesis. MET is a promising, novel target for HNSCC and combination approaches with cisplatin or EGFR inhibitors should be explored. [Cancer Res 2009;69(7):3021-31]

Although platinum chemotherapeutic agents such as carboplatin, cisplatin, and oxaliplatin are used to treat a broad range of malignant diseases, their efficacy in most cancers is limited by the development of resistance. There are multiple factors that contribute to platinum resistance but alterations of DNA repair processes have been known for some time to be important in mediating resistance. Recently acquired knowledge has provided insight into the molecular mechanisms of DNA repair pathways and their effect on response to chemotherapy. This review will discuss the most important DNA repair pathways known to be involved in the platinum response, i.e., nucleotide excision repair (NER) and mismatch repair (MMR), and will briefly touch on the role of BRCA in DNA repair. The therapeutic implications of alterations in DNA repair which affect response to platinum in the treatment of patients with malignant disease, such as excision repair cross-complementation group 1 (ERCC1) deficiency and mismatch repair deficiency, will be reviewed.

Epithelial ovarian cancer is the leading cause of death among the gynecologic malignancies. Over the past decade, advances in the field of ovarian carcinoma have brought an improvement in survival. This article focuses on the front-line management of ovarian cancer. While management of this disease is multidisciplinary and access to a trained gynecologic oncology surgeon is important, this article summarizes the most important advances from the medical oncologists' perspective. It also reviews the current standard of care based on disease stage, as well as areas of investigation in the front-line treatment of ovarian cancer. © 2005 Adis Data Information BV. All rights reserved.