BioCentury
ARTICLE | Distillery Therapeutics

Cancer

August 22, 2017 7:10 PM UTC

Patient sample and mouse studies suggest inhibiting NOX4 could help treat cancer. In samples from patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck (SCCHN), esophageal cancer, colorectal cancer, breast cancer or lung cancer, NOX4 levels were higher in tumors than in patient-matched normal samples and correlated with a transforming growth factor β (TGFβ)-induced myofibroblast gene signature. High numbers of myofibroblastic cancer-associated fibroblasts in the samples were associated with poor survival. In mouse models of SCCHN and lung cancer co-injected with fibroblasts, a shRNA targeting NOX4 or the dual NOX1/NOX4 inhibitor GKT831 decreased fibroblast-to-myofibroblast transdifferentiation and tumor growth compared with normal NOX4 expression or vehicle. Next steps could include testing NOX4 inhibition in combination with other cancer therapies in animal models of cancer-associated fibroblasts. ...

BCIQ Company Profiles

Genkyotex S.A.

BCIQ Target Profiles

NADPH oxidase 4 (NOX4)