School of Medicine, University of Colorado, Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora, Colorado.
Aflac Cancer Center of Children's Healthcare of Atlanta and Emory University Department of Pediatrics, Atlanta, Georgia.
Mol Cancer Ther. 2019 Feb;18(2):278-288. doi: 10.1158/1535-7163.MCT-18-0456. Epub 2018 Nov 27.
Molecularly-targeted agents have improved outcomes for a subset of patients with -mutated melanoma, but treatment of resistant and wild-type tumors remains a challenge. The MERTK receptor tyrosine kinase is aberrantly expressed in melanoma and can contribute to oncogenic phenotypes. Here we report the effect of treatment with a MERTK-selective small molecule inhibitor, UNC2025, in preclinical models of melanoma. In melanoma cell lines, treatment with UNC2025 potently inhibited phosphorylation of MERTK and downstream signaling, induced cell death, and decreased colony formation. In patient-derived melanoma xenograft models, treatment with UNC2025 blocked or significantly reduced tumor growth. Importantly, UNC2025 had similar biochemical and functional effects in both -mutated and wild-type models and irrespective of mutational status, implicating MERTK inhibition as a potential therapeutic strategy in tumors that are not amenable to BRAF-targeting and for which there are limited treatment options. In -mutated cell lines, combined treatment with UNC2025 and the BRAF inhibitor vemurafenib provided effective inhibition of oncogenic signaling through ERK, AKT, and STAT6, increased induction of cell death, and decreased colony-forming potential. Similarly, in -mutated cell lines, addition of UNC2025 to cobimetinib therapy increased cell death and decreased colony-forming potential. In a -mutated patient-derived xenograft, treatment with combined UNC2025 and vemurafenib was well-tolerated and significantly decreased tumor growth compared with vemurafenib alone. These data support the use of UNC2025 for treatment of melanoma, irrespective of or mutational status, and suggest a role for MERTK and targeted combination therapy in and -mutated melanoma.
分子靶向药物已改善了部分 -突变黑色素瘤患者的预后,但耐药和野生型肿瘤的治疗仍然是一个挑战。MERTK 受体酪氨酸激酶在黑色素瘤中异常表达,并有助于致癌表型。在这里,我们报告了一种 MERTK 选择性小分子抑制剂 UNC2025 在黑色素瘤临床前模型中的作用。在黑色素瘤细胞系中,UNC2025 处理可有效抑制 MERTK 和下游信号的磷酸化,诱导细胞死亡并减少集落形成。在患者来源的黑色素瘤异种移植模型中,UNC2025 治疗可阻断或显著减少肿瘤生长。重要的是,UNC2025 在 -突变和野生型模型中均具有相似的生化和功能作用,且与 突变状态无关,这表明 MERTK 抑制可能是一种潜在的治疗策略,适用于对 BRAF 靶向治疗无反应且治疗选择有限的肿瘤。在 -突变细胞系中,UNC2025 与 BRAF 抑制剂 vemurafenib 联合治疗可有效抑制 ERK、AKT 和 STAT6 的致癌信号,增加细胞死亡诱导,并降低集落形成潜能。同样,在 -突变细胞系中,将 UNC2025 加入 cobimetinib 治疗可增加细胞死亡并降低集落形成潜能。在 -突变患者来源的异种移植模型中,联合使用 UNC2025 和 vemurafenib 治疗耐受性良好,与单独使用 vemurafenib 相比,肿瘤生长明显减少。这些数据支持使用 UNC2025 治疗黑色素瘤,无论是否存在 或 突变状态,并提示 MERTK 和靶向联合治疗在 或 -突变黑色素瘤中的作用。
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