Those compounds that were confirmed by

XTT were then subjected to clonogenic survival assays to further verify specificity for killing VHL-deficient cells. From this screen, we identified several small molecules, which demonstrated selective toxicity against cells that had lost VHL compared to isogenic matched cell lines with wild-type VHL both in vitro and in vivo. One of these small molecules kills VHL deficient cells by inducing autophagy and another kills by inhibiting glucose uptake and retention. Both of these small molecules illustrate the power of using synthetic lethality in mammalian cells to develop new therapeutic strategies. O9 Targeting Cancer-Related Inflammation Fran Balkwill 1 1 Centre for Cancer and Inflammation, Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry, London, UK The cells and mediators Hydroxychloroquine order of inflammation form a major part of the epithelial tumour microenvironment. In some cancers, inflammatory conditions precede development of malignancy; in others, oncogenic change drives a tumour-promoting inflammatory milieu. Whatever

its origin, this ‘smouldering’ inflammation aids proliferation and survival of malignant cells, stimulates angiogenesis and metastasis; subverts adaptive immunity, and alters response to hormones and chemotherapy. Cytokines are major mediators of communication between cells in the inflammatory tumour microenvironment and may be important therapeutic targets NVP-BKM120 in vivo in cancer patients. The inflammatory cytokine TNF-a and its receptors are involved in tumour promotion and progression in some experimental cancers

and both are found in human cancer biopsies. Mice deficient in TNF-a or TNFR1 are resistant to skin carcinogenesis; TNF-a drives an autocrine cytokine network in ovarian cancer, stimulating production of other cytokines by malignant cells, and TNF-a MTMR9 is important in maintaining the tumour-associated macrophage, TAM, phenotype in ovarian cancer. We hypothesised that neutralising its activity would be of therapeutic benefit and tested this in Phase I/II clinical cancer trials of TNF-a antagonists. We obtained a signal of clinical activity, with stable disease and some partial responses achieved in patients with advanced renal and ovarian cancer. Interleukin 6 is another inflammatory cytokine that is implicated in cancer progression and host tumour communication. A Phase II trial of a therapeutic antibody against IL-6 in ovarian cancer patients is now complete. Again we see a signal of activity in the clinical trial and have identified potential biomarkers of response. Finally, we have evidence that TNF-a and IL-6 signalling pathways are intricately linked with other pathways involved in host tumour communication, including CXCR4, CXCL12, Notch receptors and ligands.