Putting cancer in a PINCH

Although a combination of chemotherapy, radiation and surgery is one of the most widely adopted approaches to treating solid tumors, high resistance rates to chemotherapy and radiation therapy have spurred the search for ways to improve outcomes. Now, German researchers have found a way to increase the effects of both modalities by blocking PINCH1, a protein that is upregulated in cancer cells and is involved in their interaction with the surrounding extracellular matrix.¹ Whether PINCH1 itself or one of its downstream effectors is the best target will need to be elucidated next.

Interactions between cancer cells and their extracellular matrix, including adhesion and communication, are mediated by focal adhesions, which are multiprotein structures that can include integrins, growth factor receptors, cytoplasmic signaling molecules and adaptor molecules...