A sterol analog inhibits hedgehog pathway by blocking cholesterylation of smoothened.
Cell Chem Biol
; 31(7): 1264-1276.e7, 2024 Jul 18.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-38442710
ABSTRACT
The hedgehog (Hh) signaling pathway has long been a hotspot for anti-cancer drug development due to its important role in cell proliferation and tumorigenesis. However, most clinically available Hh pathway inhibitors target the seven-transmembrane region (7TM) of smoothened (SMO), and the acquired drug resistance is an urgent problem in SMO inhibitory therapy. Here, we identify a sterol analog Q29 and show that it can inhibit the Hh pathway through binding to the cysteine-rich domain (CRD) of SMO and blocking its cholesterylation. Q29 suppresses Hh signaling-dependent cell proliferation and arrests Hh-dependent medulloblastoma growth. Q29 exhibits an additive inhibitory effect on medulloblastoma with vismodegib, a clinically used SMO-7TM inhibitor for treating basal cell carcinoma (BCC). Importantly, Q29 overcomes resistance caused by SMO mutants against SMO-7TM inhibitors and inhibits the activity of SMO oncogenic variants. Our work demonstrates that the SMO-CRD inhibitor can be a new way to treat Hh pathway-driven cancers.
Key words
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Sterols
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Signal Transduction
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Cell Proliferation
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Hedgehog Proteins
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Smoothened Receptor
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Medulloblastoma
Limits:
Animals
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Humans
Language:
En
Journal:
Cell Chem Biol
/
Cell Chem. Biol
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Cell chemical biology (Online)
Year:
2024
Document type:
Article
Affiliation country:
Country of publication: