ArticleOncotarget2014
Preclinical efficacy of maternal embryonic leucine-zipper kinase (MELK) inhibition in acute myeloid leukemia.
Article in Oncotarget, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 41 papers.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
41 citing papers in PubMed, 63 citations in OpenAlex.
- Maternal Embryonic Leucine Zipper Kinase (Biology · 2026Review
- The role of MELK in cancer: mechanisms and therapeutic options.Frontiers in oncology · 2026Review
- Targeting MELK in tumor cells and tumor microenvironment: from function and mechanism to therapeutic application.Clinical & translational oncology : official publication of the Federation of Spanish Oncology Societies and of the National Cancer Institute of Mexico · 2025Review
- Re-programming by a six-factor-secretome in the patient tumor ecosystem during nutrient stress and drug response.iScience · 2024Article
- Consensus Virtual Screening Identified [1,2,4]Triazolo[1,5-b]isoquinolines As MELK Inhibitor Chemotypes.ChemMedChem · 2022Article
- Subtype-specific expression of MELK is partly due to copy number alterations in breast cancer.PloS one · 2022Article
- Functional genomics for breast cancer drug target discovery.Journal of human genetics · 2021Review
- OTS167 blocks FLT3 translation and synergizes with FLT3 inhibitors in FLT3 mutant acute myeloid leukemia.Blood cancer journal · 2021Article
- Therapeutic Vulnerabilities of Transcription Factors in AML.Molecular cancer therapeutics · 2021Review
- High expression of maternal embryonic leucine-zipper kinase (MELK) impacts clinical outcomes in patients with ovarian cancer and its inhibition suppresses ovarian cancer cells growth ex vivo.Journal of gynecologic oncology · 2020Article
- Enigmatic MELK: The controversy surrounding its complex role in cancer.The Journal of biological chemistry · 2020Review
- Mass spectrometry-based selectivity profiling identifies a highly selective inhibitor of the kinase MELK that delays mitotic entry in cancer cells.The Journal of biological chemistry · 2020Article
- Maternal Embryonic Leucine Zipper Kinase Promotes Tumor Growth and Metastasis via Stimulating FOXM1 Signaling in Esophageal Squamous Cell Carcinoma.Frontiers in oncology · 2020Article
- Mutant P53 induces MELK expression by release of wild-type P53-dependent suppression of FOXM1.NPJ breast cancer · 2020Article
- Phillygenin, a MELK Inhibitor, Inhibits Cell Survival and Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition in Pancreatic Cancer Cells.OncoTargets and therapy · 2020Article
- Inhibition of MELK produces potential anti-tumour effects in bladder cancer by inducing G1/S cell cycle arrest via the ATM/CHK2/p53 pathway.Journal of cellular and molecular medicine · 2020Article
- Generation of highly potent DYRK1A-dependent inducers of human β-Cell replication via Multi-Dimensional compound optimization.Bioorganic & medicinal chemistry · 2020Article
- Inhibition of MELK Protooncogene as an Innovative Treatment for Intrahepatic Cholangiocarcinoma.Medicina (Kaunas, Lithuania) · 2019Article
- Maternal embryonic leucine zipper kinase is a novel target for diffuse large B cell lymphoma and mantle cell lymphoma.Blood cancer journal · 2019Article
- Computational insights into the binding of IN17 inhibitors to MELK.Journal of molecular modeling · 2019Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
12 authors at 5 institutions in 4 countries.
Funding
Abstract
Maternal embryonic leucine-zipper kinase (MELK), which was reported to be frequently up-regulated in various types of solid cancer, plays critical roles in formation and maintenance of cancer stem cells. However, little is known about the relevance of this kinase in hematologic malignancies. Here we report characterization of possible roles of MELK in acute myeloid leukemia (AML). MELK is expressed in AML cell lines and AML blasts with higher levels in less differentiated cells. MELK is frequently upregulated in AML with complex karyotypes and is associated with worse clinical outcome. MELK knockdown resulted in growth inhibition and apoptosis of leukemic cells. Hence, we investigated the potent anti-leukemia activity of OTS167, a small molecule MELK kinase inhibitor, in AML, and found that the compound induced cell differentiation and apoptosis as well as decreased migration of AML cells. MELK expression was positively correlated with the expression of FOXM1 as well as its downstream target genes. Furthermore, MELK inhibition resulted in downregulation of FOXM1 activity and the expression of its downstream targets. Taken together, and given that OTS167 is undergoing a phase I clinical trial in solid cancer, our study warrants clinical evaluation of this compound as a novel targeted therapy for AML patients.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.