The Relevance of Aurora Kinase Inhibition in Hematological Malignancies

Abstract

Aurora kinases are a family of serine/threonine protein kinases that play a central role in eukaryotic cell division. Overexpression of aurora kinases in cancer and their role as major regulators of the cell cycle quickly inspired the idea that their inhibition might be a potential pathway when treating oncologic patients. Over the past couple of decades, the search for designing and testing of molecules capable of inhibiting aurora activities fueled many pre-clinical and clinical studies. In this study, data from the past 10 years of in vitro and in vivo investigations, as well as clinical trials, utilizing aurora kinase inhibitors as therapeutics for hematological malignancies were compiled and discussed, aiming to highlight potential uses of these inhibitors as a novel monotherapy model or alongside conventional chemotherapies. While there is still much to be elucidated, it is clear that these kinases play a key role in oncogenesis, and their manageable toxicity and potentially synergistic effects still render them a focus of interest for future investigations in combinatorial clinical trials