title: Aurora kinase A in gastrointestinal cancers: time to target.
abstract: Gastrointestinal (GI) cancers are a major cause of cancer-related deaths. During the last two decades, several studies have shown amplification and overexpression of Aurora kinase A (AURKA) in several GI malignancies. These studies demonstrated that AURKA not only plays a role in regulating cell cycle and mitosis, but also regulates a number of key oncogenic signaling pathways. Although AURKA inhibitors have moved to phase III clinical trials in lymphomas, there has been slower progress in GI cancers and solid tumors. Ongoing clinical trials testing AURKA inhibitors as a single agent or in combination with conventional chemotherapies are expected to provide important clinical information for targeting AURKA in GI cancers. It is, therefore, imperative to consider investigations of molecular determinants of response and resistance to this class of inhibitors. This will improve evaluation of the efficacy of these drugs and establish biomarker based strategies for enrollment into clinical trials, which hold the future direction for personalized cancer therapy. In this review, we will discuss the available data on AURKA in GI cancers. We will also summarize the major AURKA inhibitors that have been developed and tested in pre-clinical and clinical settings.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, 760 PRB, 2220 Pierce Avenue, 37232-6308, Nashville, TN, USA. ahmed.katsha@vanderbilt.edu.
authors.forename: Ahmed
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Katsha
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, 760 PRB, 2220 Pierce Avenue, 37232-6308, Nashville, TN, USA. Abbes.Belkhiri@vanderbilt.edu.
authors.forename: Abbes
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Belkhiri
authors.affiliation: Department of Hematology, Department of Oncology, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, USA. Laura.Goff@vanderbilt.edu.
authors.forename: Laura
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Goff
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, 760 PRB, 2220 Pierce Avenue, 37232-6308, Nashville, TN, USA. wael.el-rifai@vanderbilt.edu.|Department of Cancer Biology, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, USA. wael.el-rifai@vanderbilt.edu.|Department of Veterans Affairs, Tennessee Valley Healthcare System, Nashville, TN, USA. wael.el-rifai@vanderbilt.edu.
authors.forename: Wael
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: El-Rifai
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D064096:Aurora Kinase A / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors / Q000378:metabolism*; D002986:Clinical Trials as Topic; D005770:Gastrointestinal Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D058990:Molecular Targeted Therapy; D047428:Protein Kinase Inhibitors / Q000737:chemistry / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000627:therapeutic use; D015398:Signal Transduction / Q000187:drug effects
chemical_list: D047428:Protein Kinase Inhibitors; D064096:Aurora Kinase A