An expanded universe of cancer targets

• Type of Material: Article
• Authors: William C. Hahn, Dana Farber Cancer Institute; Joel S. Bader, Johns Hopkins University; Theodore P. Braun, Oregon Health and Science University; Andrea Califano, Columbia University; Paul A. Clemons, Broad Institute; Brian J. Druker, Oregon Health and Science University; Andrew J. Ewald, Johns Hopkins University; Haian Fu, Emory University; Subhashini Jagu, NCI; Christopher J. Kemp, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center; William Kim, University of California San Diego; Calvin J. Kuo, Stanford University; Michael McManus, University of California San Francisco; Gordon Mills, Oregon Health and Science University; Xiulei Mo, Emory University; Nidhi Sahni, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center; Stuart L. Schreiber, Broad Institute; Jessica A. Talamas, Dana Farber Cancer Institute; Pablo Tamayo, University of California San Diego; Jeffrey W. Tyner, Oregon Health and Science University; Bridget K. Wagner, Broad Institute; William A. Weiss, University of California San Francisco; Daniela S. Gerhard, NCI; Yuhong Du, Emory University; Carlos Moreno, Emory University; Taofeek Owonikoko, Emory University; Sagar Lonial, Emory University; Suresh Ramalingam, Emory University; Wei Zhou, Emory University; Lee Cooper, Emory University; Matthew Reyna, Emory University
• Language: English
• Date: 2021-03-04
• Publisher: Cell Press
• Publication Version: Author Accepted Manuscript (After Peer Review)
• Copyright Statement: © 2021 Elsevier Inc.
• License: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4.0 International
• Final Published Version (URL): http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2021.02.020
• Title of Journal or Parent Work: Cell
• Volume: 184
• Issue: 5
• Start Page: 1142
• End Page: 1155
• Grant/Funding Information: None declared
• Keywords: Tumor cells; Life Sciences & Biomedicine; Therapy; Dependency; Immunotherapy; Protein-protein interaction; Science & Technology; Blockade; Genome-wide; Biochemistry & Molecular Biology; Cell Biology; Screens; Discovery; Immune cells
• Research Categories: Biology, Cell; Health Sciences, Immunology; Chemistry, Biochemistry; Health Sciences, Oncology

Abstract

The characterization of cancer genomes has provided insight into somatically altered genes across tumors, transformed our understanding of cancer biology, and enabled tailoring of therapeutic strategies. However, the function of most cancer alleles remains mysterious, and many cancer features transcend their genomes. Consequently, tumor genomic characterization does not influence therapy for most patients. Approaches to understand the function and circuitry of cancer genes provide complementary approaches to elucidate both oncogene and non-oncogene dependencies. Emerging work indicates that the diversity of therapeutic targets engendered by non-oncogene dependencies is much larger than the list of recurrently mutated genes. Here we describe a framework for this expanded list of cancer targets, providing novel opportunities for clinical translation. Members of the Cancer Target Discovery and Development Network synthesize recent insights into the different classes and characteristics of cancer therapeutic vulnerabilities.