Simon Cook

Targeting IKKβ in Cancer: Challenges and Opportunities for the Therapeutic Utilisation of IKKβ Inhibitors.
Prescott JA, Cook SJ

Deregulated NF-κB signalling is implicated in the pathogenesis of numerous human inflammatory disorders and malignancies. Consequently, the NF-κB pathway has attracted attention as an attractive therapeutic target for drug discovery. As the primary, druggable mediator of canonical NF-κB signalling the IKKβ protein kinase has been the historical focus of drug development pipelines. Thousands of compounds with activity against IKKβ have been characterised, with many demonstrating promising efficacy in pre-clinical models of cancer and inflammatory disease. However, severe on-target toxicities and other safety concerns associated with systemic IKKβ inhibition have thus far prevented the clinical approval of any IKKβ inhibitors. This review will discuss the potential reasons for the lack of clinical success of IKKβ inhibitors to date, the challenges associated with their therapeutic use, realistic opportunities for their future utilisation, and the alternative strategies to inhibit NF-κB signalling that may overcome some of the limitations associated with IKKβ inhibition.

Cells, 7, 2073-4409, , 2018

ERK1/2 inhibitors: New weapons to inhibit the RAS-regulated RAF-MEK1/2-ERK1/2 pathway.
Kidger AM, Sipthorp J, Cook SJ

The RAS-regulated RAF-MEK1/2-ERK1/2 signalling pathway is de-regulated in a variety of cancers due to mutations in receptor tyrosine kinases (RTKs), negative regulators of RAS (such as NF1) and core pathway components themselves (RAS, BRAF, CRAF, MEK1 or MEK2). This has driven the development of a variety of pharmaceutical agents to inhibit RAF-MEK1/2-ERK1/2 signalling in cancer and both RAF and MEK inhibitors are now approved and used in the clinic. There is now much interest in targeting at the level of ERK1/2 for a variety of reasons. First, since the pathway is linear from RAF-to-MEK-to-ERK then ERK1/2 are validated as targets per se. Second, innate resistance to RAF or MEK inhibitors involves relief of negative feedback and pathway re-activation with all signalling going through ERK1/2, validating the use of ERK inhibitors with RAF or MEK inhibitors as an up-front combination. Third, long-term acquired resistance to RAF or MEK inhibitors involves a variety of mechanisms (KRAS or BRAF amplification, MEK mutation, etc.) which re-instate ERK activity, validating the use of ERK inhibitors to forestall acquired resistance to RAF or MEK inhibitors. The first potent highly selective ERK1/2 inhibitors have now been developed and are entering clinical trials. They have one of three discrete mechanisms of action - catalytic, "dual mechanism" or covalent - which could have profound consequences for how cells respond and adapt. In this review we describe the validation of ERK1/2 as anti-cancer drug targets, consider the mechanism of action of new ERK1/2 inhibitors and how this may impact on their efficacy, anticipate factors that will determine how tumour cells respond and adapt to ERK1/2 inhibitors and consider ERK1/2 inhibitor drug combinations.

Pharmacology & therapeutics, , 1879-016X, , 2018

De-RSKing ERK - regulation of ERK1/2-RSK dissociation by phosphorylation within a disordered motif.
Kidger AM, Cook SJ

The protein kinases ERK1/2 and RSK associate in unstimulated cells but must separate to target other substrates. In this issue, Gógl et al. show that phosphorylation of RSK by active ERK1/2 culminates in the formation of an intramolecular charge clamp between Lys729 and the phosphate group on Ser732. This promotes the dissociation of ERK1/2 from RSK allowing them to engage with other targets.

The FEBS journal, 285, 1742-4658, 42-45, 2018