BioCentury
ARTICLE | Distillery Therapeutics

Therapeutics: Homeobox C10 (HOXC10); cyclin dependent kinase 7 (CDK7)

July 14, 2016 7:00 AM UTC

Patient sample and cell culture studies suggest CDK7 inhibitors could help treat HOXC10-expressing, chemotherapy-resistant breast cancer. In breast cancer patients receiving chemotherapy, levels of HOXC10 mRNA were 10 times higher in primary tumors and 30 times higher in metastatic tumors than in normal breast tissue, and high primary or metastatic tumor levels of HOXC10 mRNA correlated with short relapse-free survival and poor overall survival. HOXC10 mRNA expression was higher in human chemotherapy-resistant breast cancer cell lines than in untreated breast cancer cell lines. In two human chemotherapy-resistant, HOXC10-expressing breast cancer cell lines, a CDK7 inhibitor tool compound plus the generic chemotherapy paclitaxel decreased colony-forming units and proliferation compared with either agent alone. Next steps could include testing CDK7 inhibitors in animal models of HOXC10-expressing, chemotherapy-resistant breast cancer. ...