Yahyanejad Sanaz, Theys Jan, Vooijs Marc
Department of Radiotherapy (MAASTRO)/GROW, School for Developmental Biology and Oncology, Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands.
Oncotarget. 2016 Feb 16;7(7):7610-28. doi: 10.18632/oncotarget.6714.
Radiotherapy represents an important therapeutic strategy in the treatment of cancer cells. However, it often fails to eliminate all tumor cells because of the intrinsic or acquired treatment resistance, which is the most common cause of tumor recurrence. Emerging evidences suggest that the Notch signaling pathway is an important pathway mediating radiation resistance in tumor cells. Successful targeting of Notch signaling requires a thorough understanding of Notch regulation and the context-dependent interactions between Notch and other therapeutically relevant pathways. Understanding these interactions will increase our ability to design rational combination regimens that are more likely to be safe and effective. Here we summarize the role of Notch in mediating resistance to radiotherapy, the different strategies to block Notch in cancer cells and how treatment scheduling can improve tumor response. Finally, we discuss a need for reliable Notch related biomarkers in specific tumors to measure pathway activity and to allow identification of a subset of patients who are likely to benefit from Notch targeted therapies.
放射疗法是治疗癌细胞的一种重要治疗策略。然而,由于内在的或获得性的治疗抗性,它常常无法消除所有肿瘤细胞,而这是肿瘤复发的最常见原因。新出现的证据表明,Notch信号通路是介导肿瘤细胞放射抗性的一条重要通路。成功靶向Notch信号需要全面了解Notch调控以及Notch与其他治疗相关通路之间的上下文依赖性相互作用。了解这些相互作用将增强我们设计合理联合方案的能力,这些方案更有可能安全有效。在此,我们总结了Notch在介导放射抗性中的作用、在癌细胞中阻断Notch的不同策略以及治疗方案安排如何改善肿瘤反应。最后,我们讨论了在特定肿瘤中需要可靠的Notch相关生物标志物来测量通路活性,并允许识别可能从Notch靶向治疗中获益的患者亚组。