The BRCA1 (breast cancer gene 1) tumour suppressor gene has been reported as a potential predictive biomarker of response to chemotherapy to antimicrotubule agents including vinorelbine, vincristine, paclitaxel and docetaxel. High levels of BRCA1 mRNA expression have been linked to better response rates and improved progression-free survival.

The data presented here highlights that BRCA1-immunonegativity can effectively predict resistance to vinorelbine and microtubule-directed chemotherapy .

In this short communication, the authors focus on the SRC pathway, which is hyperactivated in MM specimens and cell lines compared with normal mesothelial cells (Menges et al., 2010). Inhibition of the SRC pathway with the multi-targeted inhibitor dasatinib has been shown to result in apoptosis, cell cycle arrest and decreased migration and invasion in mesothelioma cell lines (Tsao et al., 2007).
Here the authors test a panel of newly synthesized pyrazolo[3,4-d]pyrimidine derivative SRC kinase inhibitors, that bind the ATP pocket of the SRC kinase, which effectively inhibit SRC activity at nanomolar concentrations.