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Ref Type | Journal Article | ||||||||||||
PMID | (36398965) | ||||||||||||
Authors | Malone CF, Kim M, Alexe G, Engel K, Forman AB, Robichaud A, Conway AS, Goodale A, Meyer A, Khalid D, Thayakumar A, Hatcher JM, Gray NS, Piccioni F, Stegmaier K | ||||||||||||
Title | Transcriptional Antagonism by CDK8 Inhibition Improves Therapeutic Efficacy of MEK Inhibitors. | ||||||||||||
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Abstract Text | Aberrant RAS/MAPK signaling is a common driver of oncogenesis that can be therapeutically targeted with clinically approved MEK inhibitors. Disease progression on single-agent MEK inhibitors is common, however, and combination therapies are typically required to achieve significant clinical benefit in advanced cancers. Here we focused on identifying MEK inhibitor-based combination therapies in neuroblastoma with mutations that activate the RAS/MAPK signaling pathway, which are rare at diagnosis but frequent in relapsed neuroblastoma. A genome-scale CRISPR-Cas9 functional genomic screen was deployed to identify genes that when knocked out sensitize RAS-mutant neuroblastoma to MEK inhibition. Loss of either CCNC or CDK8, two members of the mediator kinase module, sensitized neuroblastoma to MEK inhibition. Furthermore, small-molecule kinase inhibitors of CDK8 improved response to MEK inhibitors in vitro and in vivo in RAS-mutant neuroblastoma and other adult solid tumors. Transcriptional profiling revealed that loss of CDK8 or CCNC antagonized the transcriptional signature induced by MEK inhibition. When combined, loss of CDK8 or CCNC prevented the compensatory upregulation of progrowth gene expression induced by MEK inhibition. These findings propose a new therapeutic combination for RAS-mutant neuroblastoma and may have clinical relevance for other RAS-driven malignancies.Transcriptional adaptation to MEK inhibition is mediated by CDK8 and can be blocked by the addition of CDK8 inhibitors to improve response to MEK inhibitors in RAS-mutant neuroblastoma, a clinically challenging disease. |
Molecular Profile | Treatment Approach |
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Gene Name | Source | Synonyms | Protein Domains | Gene Description | Gene Role |
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Drug Name | Trade Name | Synonyms | Drug Classes | Drug Description |
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BI-1347 | BI1347|BI 1347 | CDK8 Inhibitor 5 | BI-1347 inhibits CDK8 and CDK19, which leads to reduced levels of phosphorylated Stat1 and increased activity of NK cells, potentially resulting in tumor growth inhibition, in combination with other agents (PMID: 32024684, PMID: 36398965). |
Gene | Variant | Impact | Protein Effect | Variant Description | Associated with drug Resistance |
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Molecular Profile | Indication/Tumor Type | Response Type | Therapy Name | Approval Status | Evidence Type | Efficacy Evidence | References |
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NRAS Q61K | neuroblastoma | sensitive | BI-1347 + Selumetinib | Preclinical - Cell line xenograft | Actionable | In a preclinical study, the combination of BI-1347 and Koselugo (selumetinib) resulted in reduced tumor growth and improved survival compared to Koselugo (selumetinib) alone in a neuroblastoma cell line xenograft model harboring NRAS Q61K (PMID: 36398965). | 36398965 |
NRAS Q61K | neuroblastoma | sensitive | BI-1347 + Trametinib | Preclinical - Cell culture | Actionable | In a preclinical study, the addition of BI-1347 to Mekinist (trametinib) resulted in enhanced growth inhibition of a neuroblastoma cell line harboring NRAS Q61K compared to Mekinist (trametinib) alone in culture (PMID: 36398965). | 36398965 |