Treatment of malignant gliomas of the central nervous system is unsuccessful despite current multimodality approaches. Therefor, new targets for drug development are warranted. We have concentrated on second messenger systems in normal and malignant tissues and have focused recently on the calcium/calmodulin (CaM) cascade of signal transduction in malignant brain tissues. We have found that drugs that bind to and inhibit the function of CaM are effective inhibitors of malignant cell growth in vitro and in vivo and have characterized new and promising derivatives. Our studies revealed the identity of CaM from gliomas and normal brain and now turn our attention to CaM binding proteins. In the current proposal we plan to continue the above investigations plus characterize the targets for CaM in normal and malignant brain tissues. In particular, we will focus on CaM kinases since they represent a major component of this signal transduction cascade, and since we have already found marked differences in the enzyme in certain glioma lines. By characterizing these enzymes in detail, we propose means by which to inhibit their activity and testing the effect of inhibition of enzymic activity on the growth of human glioma xenografts. In addition we have found that the addition of CaM antagonists to bleomycin produced synergistic cell kill in certain sensitive lines, including C6 astrocytoma. During this renewal period we will extend these studies to include testing of liblomycin, a lipophilic synthetic derivative which lacks pulmonary toxicity and has more favorable pharmacodynamics. Through a clearer understanding of the mechanism by which anti-CaMs augment bleomycin cytotoxicity, we might be able to identify promising new approaches to these fatal malignancies.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Cancer Institute (NCI)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
5R01CA043888-08
Application #
2091295
Study Section
Experimental Therapeutics Subcommittee 1 (ET)
Project Start
1987-05-01
Project End
1995-12-31
Budget Start
1994-01-01
Budget End
1994-12-31
Support Year
8
Fiscal Year
1994
Total Cost
Indirect Cost
Name
University of Medicine & Dentistry of NJ
Department
Miscellaneous
Type
Schools of Medicine
DUNS #
622146454
City
Piscataway
State
NJ
Country
United States
Zip Code
08854
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Hait, William N; Yang, Jin-Ming (2005) Clinical management of recurrent breast cancer: development of multidrug resistance (MDR) and strategies to circumvent it. Semin Oncol 32:S16-21
Arora, Sonia; Yang, Jin-Ming; Hait, William N (2005) Identification of the ubiquitin-proteasome pathway in the regulation of the stability of eukaryotic elongation factor-2 kinase. Cancer Res 65:3806-10
Arora, Sonia; Yang, Jin-Ming; Utsumi, Ryutaro et al. (2004) P-glycoprotein mediates resistance to histidine kinase inhibitors. Mol Pharmacol 66:460-7
Hait, William N; Rubin, Eric; Goodin, Susan (2003) Tubulin-targeting agents. Cancer Chemother Biol Response Modif 21:41-67
Hait, William N; Rubin, Eric; Goodin, Susan (2002) Tubulin-targeting agents. Cancer Chemother Biol Response Modif 20:71-97
Sullivan, Gregory F; Garcia-Welch, Adrienne; White, Eileen et al. (2002) Augmentation of apoptosis by the combination of bleomycin with trifluoperazine in the presence of mutant p53. J Exp Ther Oncol 2:19-26

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