ArticleClinical cancer research : an official journal of the American Association for Cancer Research2016
Maternal Embryonic Leucine Zipper Kinase (MELK) as a Novel Mediator and Biomarker of Radioresistance in Human Breast Cancer.
Article in Clinical cancer research : an official journal of the American Association for Cancer Research, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 71 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
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.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
71 citing papers in PubMed, 133 citations in OpenAlex.
- Phosphosite-specific co-regulation networks of MELK kinase: insights from integrative global phosphoproteomes.Journal, genetic engineering & biotechnology · 2026Article
- Maternal Embryonic Leucine Zipper Kinase (Biology · 2026Review
- Risk stratification and multi-omics reveal RAD51 inhibition as a radiosensitizing strategy in triple-negative breast cancer.Frontiers in immunology · 2026Article
- The role of MELK in cancer: mechanisms and therapeutic options.Frontiers in oncology · 2026Review
- Prognostic significance of the MELK/TMPO-AS1/hsa-let-7b-5p network in lung adenocarcinoma.Frontiers in oncology · 2026Article
- Genomic data mining reveals hub genes and lncRNAs as prognostic biomarkers in breast cancer.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Tumor Microenvironment Dynamics of Triple-Negative Breast Cancer Under Radiation Therapy.International journal of molecular sciences · 2025Review
- MELK as a Mediator of Stemness and Metastasis in Aggressive Subtypes of Breast Cancer.International journal of molecular sciences · 2025Article
- 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
- Maternal Embryonic Leucine Zipper Kinase (MELK) as a Promising Therapeutic Target in Triple Negative Breast Cancer.Anti-cancer agents in medicinal chemistry · 2025Review
- Tumor cell-intrinsic MELK enhanced CCL2-dependent immunosuppression to exacerbate hepatocarcinogenesis and confer resistance of HCC to radiotherapy.Molecular cancer · 2024Article
- BUB1 regulates non-homologous end joining pathway to mediate radioresistance in triple-negative breast cancer.Journal of experimental & clinical cancer research : CR · 2024Article
- Current and future therapeutic strategies for high-grade gliomas leveraging the interplay between epigenetic regulators and kinase signaling networks.Journal of experimental & clinical cancer research : CR · 2024Review
- HSV1 microRNAs in glioblastoma development: an in silico study.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Innovative therapeutic strategies to overcome radioresistance in breast cancer.Frontiers in oncology · 2024Review
- Maternal Embryonic Leucine Zipper Kinase is Associated with Metastasis in Triple-negative Breast Cancer.Cancer research communications · 2023Article
- Metabolomics by NMR Combined with Machine Learning to Predict Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy Response for Breast Cancer.Cancers · 2022Article
- Androgen and oestrogen receptor co-expression determines the efficacy of hormone receptor-mediated radiosensitisation in breast cancer.British journal of cancer · 2022Article
- MELK predicts poor prognosis and promotes metastasis in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma via activating the NF‑κB pathway.International journal of oncology · 2022Article
- xCT contributes to colorectal cancer tumorigenesis through upregulation of the MELK oncogene and activation of the AKT/mTOR cascade.Cell death & disease · 2022Article
11 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
- Commented on by
Authors and funding
14 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
purposeWhile effective targeted therapies exist for estrogen receptor-positive and HER2-positive breast cancer, no such effective therapies exist for triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC); thus, it is clear that additional targets for radiosensitization and treatment are critically needed. EXPERIMENTAL
designExpression microarrays, qRT-PCR, and Western blotting were used to assess MELK RNA and protein expression levels. Clonogenic survival assays were used to quantitate the radiosensitivity of cell lines at baseline and after MELK inhibition. The effect of MELK knockdown on DNA damage repair kinetics was determined using γH2AX staining. The in vivo effect of MELK knockdown on radiosensitivity was performed using mouse xenograft models. Kaplan-Meier analysis was used to estimate local control and survival information, and a Cox proportional hazards model was constructed to identify potential factors impacting local recurrence-free survival.
resultsMELK expression is significantly elevated in breast cancer tissues compared with normal tissue as well as in TNBC compared with non-TNBC. MELK RNA and protein expression is significantly correlated with radioresistance in breast cancer cell lines. Inhibition of MELK (genetically and pharmacologically) induces radiation sensitivity in vitro and significantly delayed tumor growth in vivo in multiple models. Kaplan-Meier survival and multivariable analyses identify increasing MELK expression as being the strongest predictor of radioresistance and increased local recurrence in multiple independent datasets.
conclusionsHere, we identify MELK as a potential biomarker of radioresistance and target for radiosensitization in TNBC. Our results support the rationale for developing clinical strategies to inhibit MELK as a novel target in TNBC. Clin Cancer Res; 22(23); 5864-75. ©2016 AACR.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
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.