Abstract
Taxol and other antimitotic agents are frontline chemotherapy agents but the mechanisms responsible for patient benefit remain unclear. Following a genome-wide siRNA screen, we identified the oncogenic transcription factor Myc as a taxol sensitizer. Using time-lapse imaging to correlate mitotic behavior with cell fate, we show that Myc sensitizes cells to mitotic blockers and agents that accelerate mitotic progression. Myc achieves this by upregulating a cluster of redundant pro-apoptotic BH3-only proteins and suppressing pro-survival Bcl-xL. Gene expression analysis of breast cancers indicates that taxane responses correlate positively with Myc and negatively with Bcl-xL. Accordingly, pharmacological inhibition of Bcl-xL restores apoptosis in Myc-deficient cells. These results open up opportunities for biomarkers and combination therapies that could enhance traditional and second-generation antimitotic agents.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 129-140 |
Number of pages | 12 |
Journal | Cancer Cell |
Volume | 28 |
Issue number | 1 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Jul 13 2015 |
Externally published | Yes |
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Oncology
- Cell Biology
- Cancer Research