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Exploiting replicative stress to treat cancer
Matthias Dobbelstein1, Claus Storgaard Sørensen2
1Institute of Molecular Oncology, Göttingen Center of Molecular Biosciences, Ernst Caspari Haus, University of Göttingen, 37077 Göttingen, Germany.
Nature Reviews. Drug Discovery
|May 9, 2015
Summary
Cancer therapeutics can exploit replicative stress, a key process in cancer cell DNA replication. By loosening cell cycle checkpoints, treatments can induce catastrophic failure in cancer cells, enhancing therapeutic outcomes.
Area of Science:
- Oncology
- Molecular Biology
- Cancer Therapeutics
Background:
- Cancer cells experience replicative stress, characterized by replication fork stalling, collapse, and DNA damage signaling.
- Understanding replicative stress mechanisms offers therapeutic opportunities in oncology.
Purpose of the Study:
- To review current and future strategies for enhancing replicative stress in cancer cells.
- To explore therapeutic approaches that induce catastrophic failure of cancer cell proliferation.
Main Methods:
- Review of existing literature on replicative stress and cancer therapeutics.
- Emphasis on combining conventional chemotherapy with targeted therapies.
Main Results:
- Replicative stress is a hallmark of cancer cell DNA replication.
- Therapeutic strategies can be designed to increase replicative stress, rather than solely halting cell cycle progression.
Conclusions:
- Enhancing replicative stress by loosening cancer cell checkpoints can lead to catastrophic proliferative failure.
- Combining chemotherapy with targeted approaches is a promising strategy to exploit replicative stress therapeutically.
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