Targeting Cilia Could Offer Universal Approach to Combat Anticancer Drug Resistance

Scientists in the U.K. have identified a potentially universal way to resensitize drug-resistant cancer cells to therapy, by targeting the cells’ cilia. The Institute of Cancer Research (ICR) team found that cells with either acquired or de novo resistance to kinase inhibitors are characterized by increased numbers and/or longer cilia. Their studies showed that blocking cilia growth—ciliogenesis—or signaling was enough to resensitize the cells to the anticancer drugs. Coversely