Deletion of oncosuppressors occurs frequently in the cancer genome. A great deal of effort has been made to therapeutically restore the lost function of oncosuppressors, with little clinically translatable success, however. Reassuringly, besides the disappointing restoration endeavors, oncosuppressor loss can be therapeutically exploited in several other ways, such as the "synthetic lethality" strategies and the "therapeutic vulnerability" created by codeletion of neighboring genes. The study by Liu et al showed that codeletion of p53 and a neighboring essential gene POLR2A rendered colon cancer cells highly sensitive to further inhibition of POLR2A both in vitro and in vivo In recent years, several studies have reported similar phenomenon in a wide range of cancer types. In this focus article, we will introduce several kinds of anticancer opportunities created by the loss of oncosuppressors and discuss their mechanisms. Given the frequency of oncosuppressor loss in cancer, its therapeutic exploitation rather merits further investigation and may open a new window for oncotherapy.
Keywords: colon cancer; genomic deletion; oncosuppression; synthetic lethality; therapeutic vulnerability.
© The Author(s) 2015.