Targeting a key FAK-tor: the therapeutic potential of combining focal adhesion kinase (FAK) inhibitors and chemotherapy for chemoresistant non-small cell lung cancer.
{"title":"Targeting a key FAK-tor: the therapeutic potential of combining focal adhesion kinase (FAK) inhibitors and chemotherapy for chemoresistant non-small cell lung cancer.","authors":"Emma Geijerman, Francesca Terrana, Godefridus J Peters, Dongmei Deng, Patrizia Diana, Elisa Giovannetti, Geng Xu","doi":"10.1080/13543784.2024.2417762","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Introduction: </strong>NSCLC is the leading cause of cancer-related deaths globally, with a low survival rate primarily due to NSCLC frequently becoming chemoresistant. Focal adhesion kinase (FAK) is a non-receptor tyrosine kinase involved in pathways regulating multiple processes in the cell, including survival, migration, and the TME, that contribute to both tumor progression and drug resistance. Recently, FAK inhibitors (FAKi) have shown promising potential for the treatment of NSCLC.</p><p><strong>Areas covered: </strong>This narrative review aims to summarize key signaling pathways involving FAK that contribute to tumor progression and drug resistance. It will further provide an overview of FAKi currently in pre- and early-phase clinical trials for solid tumors, as well as the therapeutic potential of combining FAKi with chemotherapy, as this has emerged as a promising strategy to overcome chemoresistance in NSCLC.</p><p><strong>Expert opinion: </strong>It is becoming increasingly clear that FAK is not an oncogenic driver but rather contributes to tumor progression and drug resistance. Hence, while FAKi have only demonstrated modest results in clinical trials when given by themselves, treatment regimens combining other therapies with FAKi have shown promising potential to overcome drug resistance. Lastly, of particular novelty are FAK-PROTACs (proteolysis-targeting chimaeras), which uniquely target both cytosolic and nuclear FAK.</p>","PeriodicalId":12313,"journal":{"name":"Expert opinion on investigational drugs","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":4.9000,"publicationDate":"2024-10-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Expert opinion on investigational drugs","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1080/13543784.2024.2417762","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"PHARMACOLOGY & PHARMACY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Introduction: NSCLC is the leading cause of cancer-related deaths globally, with a low survival rate primarily due to NSCLC frequently becoming chemoresistant. Focal adhesion kinase (FAK) is a non-receptor tyrosine kinase involved in pathways regulating multiple processes in the cell, including survival, migration, and the TME, that contribute to both tumor progression and drug resistance. Recently, FAK inhibitors (FAKi) have shown promising potential for the treatment of NSCLC.
Areas covered: This narrative review aims to summarize key signaling pathways involving FAK that contribute to tumor progression and drug resistance. It will further provide an overview of FAKi currently in pre- and early-phase clinical trials for solid tumors, as well as the therapeutic potential of combining FAKi with chemotherapy, as this has emerged as a promising strategy to overcome chemoresistance in NSCLC.
Expert opinion: It is becoming increasingly clear that FAK is not an oncogenic driver but rather contributes to tumor progression and drug resistance. Hence, while FAKi have only demonstrated modest results in clinical trials when given by themselves, treatment regimens combining other therapies with FAKi have shown promising potential to overcome drug resistance. Lastly, of particular novelty are FAK-PROTACs (proteolysis-targeting chimaeras), which uniquely target both cytosolic and nuclear FAK.
期刊介绍:
Expert Opinion on Investigational Drugs (ISSN 1354-3784 [print], 1744-7658 [electronic]) is a MEDLINE-indexed, peer-reviewed, international journal publishing review articles and original papers on drugs in preclinical and early stage clinical development, providing expert opinion on the scope for future development.
The Editors welcome:
Reviews covering preclinical through to Phase II data on drugs or drug classes for specific indications, and their potential impact on future treatment strategies
Drug Evaluations reviewing the clinical and pharmacological data on a particular drug
Original Research papers reporting the results of clinical investigations on agents that are in Phase I and II clinical trials
The audience consists of scientists, managers and decision-makers in the pharmaceutical industry, and others closely involved in R&D.