Targeting Protein Degradation Pathways in Tumors: Focusing on their Role in Hematological Malignancies.
Anna Wolska-WasherPiotr SmolewskiPublished in: Cancers (2022)
Cells must maintain their proteome homeostasis by balancing protein synthesis and degradation. This is facilitated by evolutionarily-conserved processes, including the unfolded protein response and the proteasome-based system of protein clearance, autophagy, and chaperone-mediated autophagy. In some hematological malignancies, including acute myeloid leukemia, misfolding or aggregation of the wild-type p53 tumor-suppressor renders cells unable to undergo apoptosis, even with an intact p53 DNA sequence. Moreover, blocking the proteasome pathway triggers lymphoma cell apoptosis. Extensive studies have led to the development of proteasome inhibitors, which have advanced into drugs (such as bortezomib) used in the treatment of certain hematological tumors, including multiple myeloma. New therapeutic options have been studied making use of the so-called proteolysis-targeting chimeras (PROTACs), that bind desired proteins with a linker that connects them to an E3 ubiquitin ligase, resulting in proteasomal-targeted degradation. This review examines the mechanisms of protein degradation in the cells of the hematopoietic system, explains the role of dysfunctional protein degradation in the pathogenesis of hematological malignancies, and discusses the current and future advances of therapies targeting these pathways, based on an extensive search of the articles and conference proceedings from 2005 to April 2022.
Keyphrases
- induced apoptosis
- cell cycle arrest
- endoplasmic reticulum stress
- cell death
- multiple myeloma
- acute myeloid leukemia
- amino acid
- protein protein
- cancer therapy
- binding protein
- cell proliferation
- bone marrow
- transcription factor
- wild type
- pi k akt
- cell free
- drug delivery
- acute lymphoblastic leukemia
- heat shock
- combination therapy
- replacement therapy