BioCentury
ARTICLE | Distillery Therapeutics

Cancer

July 10, 2017 6:09 PM UTC

Patient sample, cell culture and mouse studies suggest inhibiting GLI1 alone or in combination with PI3K could help treat squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) of the lung. In lung tissue samples from patients, GLI1 levels were higher in tumors than in matched normal lung tissues. In a human lung SCC cell line, knockdown of GLI1 or the GLI1 inhibitor Trisenox arsenic trioxide decreased colony formation and proliferation compared with normal GLI1 expression or vehicle. In a xenograft mouse model of SCC of the lung, tumor-specific GLI1 knockdown decreased tumor growth compared with normal GLI1 expression, and in another xenograft model, Trisenox plus the oral PI3K inhibitor buparlisib decreased tumor growth compared with either agent alone. Next steps could include identifying and testing GLI1 inhibitors in the models.

Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd., H. Lundbeck A/S and Nippon Shinyaku Co. Ltd. market Trisenox to treat acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL)...