No abstract

Tumour formation relies on a complex combination of genetic and environmental factors. In particular, the contributions from inherited predisposition genes as well as carcinogens, for example from cigarettes or in the diet, are amongst the major contributors to tumorigenesis. Since the study of such processes in particularly difficult in human cancers, the availability of a well-defined model system is of obvious benefit. The mouse skin model of multistage carcinogenesis offers an excellent tool for the study of the target cells, the target genes and the biological events associated with neoplasia. In this system, tumorigenesis occurs in a series of defined stages, each of which is characterized by specific and reproducible alterations in genes such as H-ras, cyclin D1, p53 and p16INK4A. Additional changes occur in the production of, or response to, factors such as transforming growth factor beta (TGF beta). These genetic and biological alterations are mirrored in human tumours of epithelial origin. Hence, research into the general principles of tumour initiation, promotion and progression in the context of the mouse skin model is likely to prove valuable in the continual search for new methods for the diagnosis, prevention, and therapeutic treatment of human cancers.

The ribosomal P70 S6 kinases play a crucial role in PI3K/mTOR regulated signalling pathways and are therefore potential targets for the treatment of a variety of diseases including diabetes and cancer. In this study we describe the identification of three series of chemically distinct S6K1 inhibitors. In addition, we report a novel PKA-S6K1 chimeric protein with five mutations in or near its ATP-binding site, which was used to determine the binding mode of two of the three inhibitor series, and provided a robust system to aid the optimisation of the oxadiazole-substituted benzimidazole inhibitor series. We show that the resulting oxadiazole-substituted aza-benzimidazole is a potent and ligand efficient S6 kinase inhibitor, which blocks the phosphorylation of RPS6 at Ser235/236 in TSC negative HCV29 human bladder cancer cells by inhibiting S6 kinase activity and thus provides a useful tool compound to investigate the function of S6 kinases.