Glioblastoma (GB) is the most aggressive and most common malignant primary brain tumor diagnosed in adults. GB shows a poor prognosis and, unfortunately, current therapies are unable to improve its clinical outcome, imposing the need for innovative therapeutic approaches. The main reason for the poor prognosis is the great cell heterogeneity of the tumor mass and its high capacity for invading healthy tissues. Moreover, the glioblastoma microenvironment is capable of suppressing the action of the immune system through several mechanisms such as recruitment of cell modulators. Development of new therapies that avoid this immune evasion could improve the response to the current treatments for this pathology. Natural Killer (NK) cells are cellular components of the immune system more difficult to deceive by tumor cells and with greater cytotoxic activity. Their use in immunotherapy gains strength because they are a less toxic alternative to existing therapy, but the current research focuses on mimicking the NK attack strategy. Here, we summarize the most recent studies regarding molecular mechanisms involved in the GB and immune cells interaction and highlight the relevance of NK cells in the new therapeutic challenges.

Members of the transforming growth factor β (TGF-β) family have been implicated in the biology of several cancers. In this review, we focus on the role of TGFβ and bone morphogenetic protein (BMP) signaling in glioblastoma. Glioblastoma (GBM) is the most common malignant brain tumor in adults; it presents at a median age of 64 years, but can occur at any age, including childhood. Unfortunately, there is no cure, and even patients undergoing current treatments (surgical resection, radiotherapy, and chemotherapy) have a median survival of 15 months. There is a great need to identify new therapeutic targets to improve the treatment of GBM patients. TGF-βs signaling promotes tumorigenesis in glioblastoma, while BMPs suppress tumorigenic potential by inducing tumor cell differentiation. In this review, we discuss the actions of TGF-βs and BMPs on cancer cells as well as in the tumor microenvironment, and their use in potential therapeutic intervention.

In recent years, poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) inhibitors have been evaluated for treating homologous recombination-deficient tumours, taking advantage of synthetic lethality. However, increasing evidence indicates that PARP1 exert several cellular functions unrelated with their role on DNA repair, including function as a co-activator of transcription through protein-protein interaction with E2F1. Since the RB/E2F1 pathway is among the most frequently mutated in many tumour types, we investigated whether the absence of PARP activity could counteract the consequences of E2F1 hyperactivation. Our results demonstrate that genetic ablation of Parp1 extends the survival of Rb-null embryos, while genetic inactivation of Parp1 results in reduced development of pRb-dependent tumours. Our results demonstrate that PARP1 plays a key role as a transcriptional co-activator of the transcription factor E2F1, an important component of the cell cycle regulation. Considering that most oncogenic processes are associated with cell cycle deregulation, the disruption of this PARP1-E2F1 interaction could provide a new therapeutic target of great interest and a wide spectrum of indications.

The development of new diagnostic tools in tumor pathology allows the optimization of individualized therapies in cancer patients. The functional optical image provides a unique opportunity to identify the pathophysiological characteristics of each tumor in a non-invasive way. Although fluorescent recombinant affibodies and nanobodies, capable of detecting certain membrane proteins present in tumor cells, has been described, the use of bioluminescent molecules is gaining a great impact in this field due to its high sensitivity. In this work, we characterize a new luciferase from the Metridia lucens copepod (MlLuc) and develop a novel bioluminescent recombinant affibody (MlLuc-aff) capable of recognizing the HER2 receptors that are overexpressed in breast cancer tumors. For this purpose, the thermostability and pH sensitivity of MlLuc1.1 were determined, showing no significant changes in the activity among temperatures between 4 and 70 °C, and with a maximum of brightness at pH 8.0. Furthermore, MlLuc-aff was able to accurately detect HER2 receptors expressed in the SK-BR-3 cells. Future applications of this new tracer can contribute to the early diagnosis of breast cancer patients and the assessment of the efficacy of the treatment.

In recent years, new therapies have been developed based on molecules that target molecular mechanisms involved in both the initiation and maintenance of the oncogenic process. Among these molecules are the poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase 1 (PARP1) inhibitors. PARP1 has emerged as a target with great therapeutic potential for some tumor types, drawing attention to this enzyme and resulting in many small molecule inhibitors of its enzymatic activity. Therefore, many PARP inhibitors are currently in clinical trials for the treatment of homologous recombination (HR)-deficient tumors, BRCA-related cancers, taking advantage of synthetic lethality. In addition, several novel cellular functions unrelated to its role in DNA repair have been described, including post-translational modification of transcription factors, or acting through protein–protein interactions as a co-activator or co-repressor of transcription. Previously, we reported that this enzyme may play a key role as a transcriptional co-activator of an important component of cell cycle regulation, the transcription factor E2F1. Here, we show that PARP inhibitors, which interfere with its activity in cell cycle regulation, perform this without affecting its enzymatic function.

In recent years, poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) inhibitors have heen evaluated for treating homologous recombination-deficient tumors, taking advantage of synthetic lethality. However, increasing evidence indicates that PARP proteins exert several cellular functions unrelated with their role on DNA repair, including function as a co-activators of transcription through protein-protein interaction with E2F1. Since the RB/E2F1 pathway is among the most frequently mutated in many tumours types, we investigated whether the absence of PARP activity could counteract the consequences of E2F1 hyperactivation. Our results demonstrate that genetic ablation of Parp1 extends the survival of Rb-null embryos, while genetic inactivation of Parp1 results in reduced development of pRb-dependent tumors. Our results demonstrate that PARP1 plays a key role as a transcriptional co-activator of the transcription factor E2F1, an important component of the cell cycle regulation. Furthermore, impairment of PARP results in a reduction of tumor growth, that is not depending of the activity of PARP on DNA repair. Considering that most oncogenic processes are associated with cell cycle deregulation, the disruption of this PARP1-E2F1 interaction could provide a new therapeutic target of great interest and a wide spectrum of indications.