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In the Literature: Improved Chemotherapy Response Following Autophagy Inhibition in B-Raf-mutant Brain Tumors
Autophagy inhibition may improve cancer therapy, but it is unclear which tumors will benefit. BRAF mutations cause brain tumor cells to depend on autophagy and display selective chemosensitization with autophagy inhibition. We present a pediatric case in which deliberate autophagy inhibition halted tumor growth and overcame acquired BRAF-inhibition resistance.
Autophagy inhibition is a potential therapeutic strategy in cancer, but it is unknown which tumors will benefit. The BRAFV600E mutation has been identified as important in pediatric central nervous system (CNS) tumors and is known to affect autophagy in other tumor types. We evaluated CNS tumor cells with BRAFV600E and found that mutant (but not wild-type) cells display high rates of induced autophagy, are sensitive to pharmacologic and genetic autophagy inhibition, and display synergy when the clinically used autophagy inhibitor chloroquine was combined with the RAF inhibitor vemurafenib or standard chemotherapeutics. Importantly, we also demonstrate that chloroquine can improve vemurafenib sensitivity in a resistant ex vivo primary culture and provide the first demonstration in a patient harboring the V600E mutation treated with vemurafenib that the addition of chloroquine can improve clinical outcomes. These findings suggest that CNS tumors with BRAFV600E are autophagy-dependent and should be targeted with autophagy inhibition in combination with other therapeutic strategies.
Original article: http://bit.ly/1qbxkQd
Source: Cancer Discovery
Examining Low-Value Cancer Care Trends Amidst the COVID-19 Pandemic
April 25th 2024On this episode of Managed Care Cast, we're talking with the authors of a study published in the April 2024 issue of The American Journal of Managed Care® about their findings on the rates of low-value cancer care services throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Oncology Onward: A Conversation With Penn Medicine's Dr Justin Bekelman
December 19th 2023Justin Bekelman, MD, director of the Penn Center for Cancer Care Innovation, sat with our hosts Emeline Aviki, MD, MBA, and Stephen Schleicher, MD, MBA, for our final episode of 2023 to discuss the importance of collaboration between academic medicine and community oncology and testing innovative cancer care delivery in these settings.
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