[Allele-specific inhibitors of mutant KRAS are in the focus of RASopathy consortium]. / Allélspecifikus inhibitorok nyomában: a RASopátia konzorcium célpontjában a KRAS fehérje onkogén mutációi.

The RASopathy consortium was built from research groups of the Budapest University of Technology and Economics, Eötvös Loránd University, Semmelweis University and two startups: KINETO Lab Ltd. and Fototronic Ltd. The goal was to design and test novel covalent and allele-specific KRAS small molecular inhibitors. KRAS is the most frequently mutated human oncogene which was unsuccessfully targeted until recently. The consortium established G12C-expressing bacterial and human cancer cell models (homo- and heterozygous variants) of lung, colorectal and pancreatic tumors. Using covalent fragment and acrylamide warhead libraries we were able to select novel candidates of small molecular G12C-specific inhibitors which were compared to published best-in-class drug candidates.

[CHEK1 expression and inhibitors in TP53 mutant cancer]. / A checkpoint kinase 1 expressziója és gátlása TP53-mutációt hordozó rosszindulatú daganatokban.

The most frequently mutated gene in human tumors is TP53 and its mutation significantly deteriorates patients' survival. However, to date no targeted therapy is established for TP53 mutated tumors. Here, our aim was to identify druggable kinases with higher expression in TP53 mutated tumors, as well as relate these to altered prognosis. We also aimed to validate a target gene in TP53 wild type and mutant isogenic cell lines using a specific kinase inhibitor. Gene expression and mutation data were collected from 994 lung tumor samples. Samples were separated based on TP53 mutation status, and differential gene expression was compared using Mann-Whitney test between patient cohorts. Prognostic value of identified genes was validated in an array-based lung cancer dataset (n=1926). Survival analysis was performed using Cox proportional hazards regression and Kaplan-Meier survival plots. Effect of TP53 mutations on CHEK1 expression was validated in the A549 isogenic lung cancer cell line. The cell line was also treated using Chk1 protein specific kinase inhibitor to monitor cell functions. Expression of CHEK1 was elevated significantly among targetable kinases and higher expression of CHEK1 related to worse prognosis. Our results confirm the higher expression of CHEK1 kinase associated to TP53 mutations and to shorter survival.