Quentin McAfee

TL;DR: Data establish that autophagy inhibition is achievable with HCQ, but dose-limiting toxicity prevented escalation to higher doses of HCQ.

TL;DR: Using tumor biopsies from BRAF(V600E) melanoma patients treated either with BRAFi or with combined BRAF and MEK inhibition, it is found that BRAFi-resistant tumors had increased levels of autophagy compared with baseline and a rationale for combination approaches targeting this resistance pathway is provided.

TL;DR: B bisaminoquinoline autophagy inhibitors are synthesized and characterization and significant single-agent antitumor activity is observed without toxicity in mice treated with lower doses of Lys05, establishing the therapeutic potential of this compound in cancer.

TL;DR: Three dimensional culture mimics the tumor microenvironment better than monolayer culture and is an appropriate model for studying therapeutic combinations involving autophagy modulators.

TL;DR: A novel dimeric CQ (DC661) capable of deacidifying the lysosome and inhibiting autophagy significantly better than hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) is reported, providing a strong rationale for targeting PPT1 in cancer.