Browsing by Author "Occhipinti, Giulia"

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    Sequential or Concomitant Inhibition of Cyclin-Dependent Kinase 4/6 Before mTOR Pathway in Hormone-Positive HER2 Negative Breast Cancer: Biological Insights and Clinical Implications
    (Frontiers Media, 2020) Occhipinti, Giulia; Romagnoli, Emanuela; Santoni, Matteo; Cimadamore, Alessia; Sorgentoni, Giulia; Cecati, Monia; Giulietti, Matteo; Battelli, Nicola; Maccioni, Alessandro; Storti, Nadia; Cheng, Liang; Principato, Giovanni; Montironi, Rodolfo; Piva, Francesco; Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, School of Medicine
    About 75% of all breast cancers are hormone receptor-positive (HR+). However, the efficacy of endocrine therapy is limited due to the high rate of either pre-existing or acquired resistance. In this work we reconstructed the pathways around estrogen receptor (ER), mTOR, and cyclin D in order to compare the effects of CDK4/6 and PI3K/AKT/mTOR inhibitors. A positive feedback loop links mTOR and ER that support each other. We subsequently considered whether a combined or sequential inhibition of CDK4/6 and PI3K/AKT/mTOR could ensure better results. Studies indicate that inhibition of CDK4/6 activates mTOR as an escape mechanism to ensure cell proliferation. In literature, the little evidence dealing with this topic suggests that pre-treatment with mTOR pathway inhibitors could prevent or delay the onset of CDK4/6 inhibitor resistance. Additional studies are needed in order to find biomarkers that can identify patients who will develop this resistance and in whom the sensitivity to CDK4/6 inhibitors can be restored.