Department of Oncology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
Target Discovery Institute, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
Oncogene. 2022 Jan;41(4):476-488. doi: 10.1038/s41388-021-02080-1. Epub 2021 Nov 12.
We recently reported that genetic or pharmacological inhibition of insulin-like growth factor receptor (IGF-1R) slows DNA replication and induces replication stress by downregulating the regulatory subunit RRM2 of ribonucleotide reductase, perturbing deoxynucleotide triphosphate (dNTP) supply. Aiming to exploit this effect in therapy we performed a compound screen in five breast cancer cell lines with IGF neutralising antibody xentuzumab. Inhibitor of checkpoint kinase CHK1 was identified as a top screen hit. Co-inhibition of IGF and CHK1 caused synergistic suppression of cell viability, cell survival and tumour growth in 2D cell culture, 3D spheroid cultures and in vivo. Investigating the mechanism of synthetic lethality, we reveal that CHK1 inhibition in IGF-1R depleted or inhibited cells further downregulated RRM2, reduced dNTP supply and profoundly delayed replication fork progression. These effects resulted in significant accumulation of unreplicated single-stranded DNA and increased cell death, indicative of replication catastrophe. Similar phenotypes were induced by IGF:WEE1 co-inhibition, also via exacerbation of RRM2 downregulation. Exogenous RRM2 expression rescued hallmarks of replication stress induced by co-inhibiting IGF with CHK1 or WEE1, identifying RRM2 as a critical target of the functional IGF:CHK1 and IGF:WEE1 interactions. These data identify novel therapeutic vulnerabilities and may inform future trials of IGF inhibitory drugs.
我们最近报道称,通过下调核苷酸还原酶调节亚基 RRM2,抑制胰岛素样生长因子受体(IGF-1R)的遗传或药理学抑制会减缓 DNA 复制并诱导复制应激,从而扰乱脱氧核苷酸三磷酸(dNTP)的供应。为了在治疗中利用这种效果,我们用 IGF 中和抗体 xentuzumab 在五种乳腺癌细胞系中进行了化合物筛选。检查点激酶 CHK1 的抑制剂被鉴定为顶级筛选命中。在 2D 细胞培养、3D 球体培养和体内,IGF 和 CHK1 的共同抑制导致细胞活力、细胞存活和肿瘤生长的协同抑制。在研究合成致死的机制时,我们发现 CHK1 抑制在 IGF-1R 耗尽或抑制的细胞中进一步下调了 RRM2,减少了 dNTP 的供应,并显著延迟了复制叉的进展。这些效应导致未复制的单链 DNA 大量积累,并增加了细胞死亡,表明发生了复制危机。IGF:WEE1 共同抑制也通过加剧 RRM2 下调诱导了类似的表型。外源性 RRM2 表达挽救了共同抑制 IGF 与 CHK1 或 WEE1 诱导的复制应激的标志性特征,表明 RRM2 是 IGF:CHK1 和 IGF:WEE1 相互作用的关键靶标。这些数据确定了新的治疗弱点,并可能为未来 IGF 抑制药物的临床试验提供信息。