Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is a devastating brain cancer with a mean survival of only 14.6 months. Current standard-of-care therapies provide only palliation, indicating an urgent need to develop more effective therapeutic options. GBMs display a hierarchy of differentiation states within the tumor, similar to normal brain development processes. Molecular signals that initiate and maintain gliomas commonly overlap with those involved in stem cell development, and indeed accumulating evidence suggests that GBM stem-like cells (GSCs) contribute to tumor propagation, recurrence and the eventual loss of life associated with these lesions. However, molecular mechanisms that regulate GSC survival and therapy resistance remain poorly understood, and this has hampered efforts to develop effective therapies that prevent GBM growth and recurrence. Our recent studies and preliminary data have discovered a novel molecular signaling cascade that may control the survival, proliferation, and therapy resistance of GSCs. This pathway involves the mitotic kinase MELK, methyl transferase EZH2, and oncogenic transcription factor STAT3. Importantly, dysregulation of this pathway accelerates GSC growth and promotes GBM malignancy, and are tightly associated with poor patient outcome. This project will interrogate the role of this MELK-EZH2-STAT3 pathway in GSC self-renewal, survival, GBM progression, and radiation resistance. Our data strongly indicate that inhibition of the MELK-EZH2-STAT3 signaling axis by targeting the upstream effector MELK may have profound clinical implications since it can simultaneously block multiple oncogenic signaling pathways all of which are the well-known therapeutic targets. Toward this goal, we have developed a small-molecule MELK inhibitor that could decrease GSC survival and tumor growth in vivo. We anticipate that this study will yield a new paradigm for GSC biology and a novel therapeutic approach to target key regulators of GSC, which may lead to the translation into improved therapies.

Public Health Relevance

Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is a devastating cancer with a mean survival of only 14.6 months and few therapeutic options. Standard treatment regimen for GBM is maximal surgical resection followed by radiotherapy and chemotherapy, which has only a palliative effect on patient's survival. Thus, more effective treatment is urgently needed. This proposal will determine the molecular mechanisms of the newly identified MELK/EZH2/STAT3 pathway in GBM cells and examine whether targeting this pathway would be a safe and efficient therapeutic strategy for GBM.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
5R01NS083767-05
Application #
9117637
Study Section
Special Emphasis Panel (ZRG1-BMCT-C (01)S)
Program Officer
Fountain, Jane W
Project Start
2013-07-01
Project End
2018-06-30
Budget Start
2016-07-01
Budget End
2017-06-30
Support Year
5
Fiscal Year
2016
Total Cost
$289,126
Indirect Cost
$78,306
Name
University of Alabama Birmingham
Department
Neurosurgery
Type
Schools of Medicine
DUNS #
063690705
City
Birmingham
State
AL
Country
United States
Zip Code
35294
Sadahiro, Hirokazu; Kang, Kyung-Don; Gibson, Justin T et al. (2018) Activation of the Receptor Tyrosine Kinase AXL Regulates the Immune Microenvironment in Glioblastoma. Cancer Res 78:3002-3013
Pavlyukov, Marat S; Yu, Hai; Bastola, Soniya et al. (2018) Apoptotic Cell-Derived Extracellular Vesicles Promote Malignancy of Glioblastoma Via Intercellular Transfer of Splicing Factors. Cancer Cell 34:119-135.e10
Huang, Tianzhi; Kim, Chung Kwon; Alvarez, Angel A et al. (2017) MST4 Phosphorylation of ATG4B Regulates Autophagic Activity, Tumorigenicity, and Radioresistance in Glioblastoma. Cancer Cell 32:840-855.e8
Jeon, Hye-Min; Lee, Jeongwu (2017) MET: roles in epithelial-mesenchymal transition and cancer stemness. Ann Transl Med 5:5
Wang, Jia; Cheng, Peng; Pavlyukov, Marat S et al. (2017) Targeting NEK2 attenuates glioblastoma growth and radioresistance by destabilizing histone methyltransferase EZH2. J Clin Invest 127:3075-3089
Teng, Jian; Carla da Hora, Cintia; Kantar, Rami S et al. (2017) Dissecting inherent intratumor heterogeneity in patient-derived glioblastoma culture models. Neuro Oncol 19:820-832
Huang, Tianzhi; Alvarez, Angel A; Pangeni, Rajendra P et al. (2016) A regulatory circuit of miR-125b/miR-20b and Wnt signalling controls glioblastoma phenotypes through FZD6-modulated pathways. Nat Commun 7:12885
Ouchi, Rie; Okabe, Sachiko; Migita, Toshiro et al. (2016) Senescence from glioma stem cell differentiation promotes tumor growth. Biochem Biophys Res Commun 470:275-281
Kim, Sung-Hak; Ezhilarasan, Ravesanker; Phillips, Emma et al. (2016) Serine/Threonine Kinase MLK4 Determines Mesenchymal Identity in Glioma Stem Cells in an NF-?B-dependent Manner. Cancer Cell 29:201-13
Lee, Jin-Ku; Nam, DO-Hyun; Lee, Jeongwu (2016) Repurposing antipsychotics as glioblastoma therapeutics: Potentials and challenges. Oncol Lett 11:1281-1286

Showing the most recent 10 out of 37 publications