Dinesh Kumar Dahiya

Abstract Tumor heterogeneity presents a major clinical challenge. Reactivation of telomerase (hTERT) is a near-universal hallmark of cancer, yet direct inhibition of hTERT has shown limited therapeutic benefit. To uncover tractable telomerase-related vulnerabilities, we applied a synthetic dosage lethality (SDL) strategy to identify genes required only when hTERT is overexpressed.

Colorectal cancer (CRC) represents 10.2% of cancers worldwide, ranking third by incidence in both sexes combined [1]. Approximately 1.8 million new cases were diagnosed worldwide in 2018. It is, overall, the second most common cause of death by cancer globally (881,000, 9.2%), following lung cancer (18.4%), which leads to cancer mortality [1]. The 5-year relative survival rate for patients with stage IIIC and IV colon cancer is approximately 53 and 11% respectively.