PT - JOURNAL ARTICLE AU - Bruce W. Ennis AU - Kimberly E. Fultz AU - Kent A. Smith AU - John K. Westwick AU - Dan Zhu AU - Michael Boluro-Ajayi AU - Graham K. Bilter AU - Bernd Stein TI - Inhibition of Tumor Growth, Angiogenesis, and Tumor Cell Proliferation by a Small Molecule Inhibitor of c-Jun N-terminal Kinase AID - 10.1124/jpet.104.078873 DP - 2005 Apr 01 TA - Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics PG - 325--332 VI - 313 IP - 1 4099 - http://jpet.aspetjournals.org/content/313/1/325.short 4100 - http://jpet.aspetjournals.org/content/313/1/325.full SO - J Pharmacol Exp Ther2005 Apr 01; 313 AB - c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) is a member of the mitogen-activated protein kinase family, and its function is critical for signal transduction in tumor and endothelial cells. JNK is a serine/threonine protein kinase that phosphorylates c-Jun, a component of the activator protein-1 transcription factor complex. We hypothesize that inhibiting JNK will lead to the inhibition of tumor growth; therefore, we evaluated the efficacy of the recently described JNK inhibitor SP600125 [anthra[1,9-cd] pyrazol-6 (2H)-one]. SP600125 is an anthrapyrazole that is a reversible, ATP-competitive inhibitor of JNK1/2. SP600125 exhibited broad-based antiproliferative activity in human endothelial and tumor cell lines. SP600125 affects proliferation by arresting cells in the G2/M phase of the cell cycle. SP600125 also acts to inhibit endothelial cell migration. In cell lines, a correlation of cell growth inhibition with reduced JNK activity was observed. The systemic administration of SP600125 resulted in the inhibition of DU145 human prostate carcinoma xenografts and murine Lewis lung carcinoma. SP600125 also enhanced the potency of cyclophosphamide in the inhibition of Lewis lung tumor growth. These data indicate the therapeutic antitumor potential of small molecule inhibitors that act to block the cellular activity of JNK. The American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics