Coaxing Senescence in Retroperitoneal Liposarcomas
Abstract
Scientific Objective and Rationale: Retroperitoneal liposarcomas are rare cancers, occurring in approximately 1 in 300,000 people each year. The most common subtype is well-differentiated liposarcoma (WDL). These cancers are treated by surgery, but tend to recur, leading to high mortality. All carry extra copies of the gene for Cyclin Dependent Kinase 4 (CDK4), a key driver of cancer cell proliferation. CDK4 inhibitors have shown clinical promise in stabilizing disease progression, but not all patients respond. Our broad objective is to discover drugs or druggable genes that might synergize with CDK4 inhibitors to irreversibly arrest or kill liposarcoma cells. Our studies thus address the FY20 RCRP Focus Area: “Therapy – Identify novel therapeutic strategies, including drug repurposing.” Applicability of the Research: The deliverables of our research study will be the identification of drugs, or druggable gene targets that, when combined with CDK4 inhibitors, will irreversibly arrest or kill liposarcoma cells. The studies will be conducted using human liposarcoma cell lines grown in laboratory dishes, and therefore, positive results will require further validation in preclinical and clinical studies before directly benefiting liposarcoma patients. Typically, those benefits might take years. However, the benefit to patients will be more rapid should we find we can repurpose existing drugs to arrest or kill liposarcoma cells. In addition to helping patients with liposarcoma, our findings may benefit patients with other rare (or not so rare) cancers with extra copies of the CDK4 gene.
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Dec 05, 2021
- Source ID
- W81XWH2110793
Entities
People
- Jonathan Pollack
Organizations
- Stanford University
- United States Army