Combined inhibition of MEK and PI3K pathways overcomes acquired resistance to EGFR‐TKIs in non‐small cell lung cancer |
| |
Authors: | Hiroki Sato Hiromasa Yamamoto Masakiyo Sakaguchi Kazuhiko Shien Shuta Tomida Tadahiko Shien Hirokuni Ikeda Minami Hatono Hidejiro Torigoe Kei Namba Takahiro Yoshioka Eisuke Kurihara Yusuke Ogoshi Yuta Takahashi Junichi Soh Shinichi Toyooka |
| |
Affiliation: | 1. Department of Thoracic, Breast and Endocrine Surgery, Okayama University Graduate School of Medicine, Dentistry and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Okayama, Japan;2. Department of Cell Biology, Okayama University Graduate School of Medicine, Dentistry and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Okayama, Japan;3. Department of Bioinformatics, Okayama University Graduate School of Medicine, Dentistry and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Okayama, Japan;4. Department of Clinical Genomic Medicine, Okayama University Graduate School of Medicine, Dentistry and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Okayama, Japan |
| |
Abstract: | Compensatory activation of the signal transduction pathways is one of the major obstacles for the targeted therapy of non‐small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Herein, we present the therapeutic strategy of combined targeted therapy against the MEK and phosphoinositide‐3 kinase (PI3K) pathways for acquired resistance to epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) in NSCLC. We investigated the efficacy of combined trametinib plus taselisib therapy using experimentally established EGFR‐TKI‐resistant NSCLC cell lines. The results showed that the feedback loop between MEK/ERK and PI3K/AKT pathways had developed in several resistant cell lines, which caused the resistance to single‐agent treatment with either inhibitor alone. Meanwhile, the combined therapy successfully regulated the compensatory activation of the key intracellular signals and synergistically inhibited the cell growth of those cells in vitro and in vivo. The resistance mechanisms for which the dual kinase inhibitor therapy proved effective included (MET) mesenchymal‐epithelial transition factor amplification, induction of epithelial‐to‐mesenchymal transition (EMT) and EGFR T790M mutation. In further analysis, the combination therapy induced the phosphorylation of p38 MAPK signaling, leading to the activation of apoptosis cascade. Additionally, long‐term treatment with the combination therapy induced the conversion from EMT to mesenchymal‐to‐epithelial transition in the resistant cell line harboring EMT features, restoring the sensitivity to EGFR‐TKI. In conclusion, our results indicate that the combined therapy using MEK and PI3K inhibitors is a potent therapeutic strategy for NSCLC with the acquired resistance to EGFR‐TKIs. |
| |
Keywords: | acquired resistance compensatory activation MEK inhibitor non‐small cell lung cancer PI3K inhibitor |
|
|