KEAP1 loss modulates sensitivity to kinase targeted therapy in lung cancer

  1. Elsa Beyer Krall
  2. Belinda Wang
  3. Diana M Munoz
  4. Nina Ilic
  5. Srivatsan Raghavan
  6. Matthew J Niederst
  7. Kristine Yu
  8. David A Ruddy
  9. Andrew J Aguirre
  10. Jong Wook Kim
  11. Amanda J Redig
  12. Justin F Gainor
  13. Juliet A Williams
  14. John M Asara
  15. John G Doench
  16. Pasi A Janne
  17. Alice T Shaw
  18. Robert E McDonald III
  19. Jeffrey A Engelman
  20. Frank Stegmeier
  21. Michael R Schlabach
  22. William C Hahn  Is a corresponding author
  1. KSQ Therapeutics, United States
  2. Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, United States
  3. Novartis Institute for Biomedical Research, United States
  4. Massachusetts General Hospital, United States
  5. Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, United States
  6. Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT, United States

Abstract

Inhibitors that target the receptor tyrosine kinase (RTK)/Ras/mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathway have led to clinical responses in lung and other cancers, but some patients fail to respond and in those that do resistance inevitably occurs1-4. To understand intrinsic and acquired resistance to inhibition of MAPK signaling, we performed CRISPR-Cas9 gene deletion screens in the setting of BRAF, MEK, EGFR, and ALK inhibition. Loss of KEAP1, a negative regulator of NFE2L2/NRF2, modulated the response to BRAF, MEK, EGFR, and ALK inhibition in BRAF-, NRAS-, KRAS-, EGFR-, and ALK-mutant lung cancer cells. Treatment with inhibitors targeting the RTK/MAPK pathway increased reactive oxygen species (ROS) in cells with intact KEAP1, and loss of KEAP1 abrogated this increase. In addition, loss of KEAP1 altered cell metabolism to allow cells to proliferate in the absence of MAPK signaling. These observations suggest that alterations in the KEAP1/NRF2 pathway may promote survival in the presence of multiple inhibitors targeting the RTK/Ras/MAPK pathway.

Article and author information

Author details

  1. Elsa Beyer Krall

    KSQ Therapeutics, Cambridge, United States
    Competing interests
    No competing interests declared.
  2. Belinda Wang

    Department of Medical Oncology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, United States
    Competing interests
    No competing interests declared.
  3. Diana M Munoz

    Oncology Disease Area, Novartis Institute for Biomedical Research, Cambridge, United States
    Competing interests
    No competing interests declared.
  4. Nina Ilic

    Department of Medical Oncology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, United States
    Competing interests
    No competing interests declared.
  5. Srivatsan Raghavan

    Department of Medical Oncology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, United States
    Competing interests
    No competing interests declared.
  6. Matthew J Niederst

    Oncology Disease Area, Novartis Institute for Biomedical Research, Cambridge, United States
    Competing interests
    No competing interests declared.
  7. Kristine Yu

    Oncology Disease Area, Novartis Institute for Biomedical Research, Cambridge, United States
    Competing interests
    No competing interests declared.
  8. David A Ruddy

    Oncology Disease Area, Novartis Institute for Biomedical Research, Cambridge, United States
    Competing interests
    No competing interests declared.
  9. Andrew J Aguirre

    Department of Medical Oncology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, United States
    Competing interests
    No competing interests declared.
  10. Jong Wook Kim

    Department of Medical Oncology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, United States
    Competing interests
    No competing interests declared.
  11. Amanda J Redig

    Department of Medical Oncology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, United States
    Competing interests
    No competing interests declared.
  12. Justin F Gainor

    Department of Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, United States
    Competing interests
    No competing interests declared.
  13. Juliet A Williams

    Oncology Disease Area, Novartis Institute for Biomedical Research, Cambridge, United States
    Competing interests
    No competing interests declared.
  14. John M Asara

    Department of Medicine, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, United States
    Competing interests
    No competing interests declared.
  15. John G Doench

    Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT, Cambridge, United States
    Competing interests
    No competing interests declared.
  16. Pasi A Janne

    Department of Medical Oncology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, United States
    Competing interests
    No competing interests declared.
  17. Alice T Shaw

    Department of Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, United States
    Competing interests
    No competing interests declared.
  18. Robert E McDonald III

    Oncology Disease Area, Novartis Institute for Biomedical Research, Cambridge, United States
    Competing interests
    No competing interests declared.
  19. Jeffrey A Engelman

    Oncology Disease Area, Novartis Institute for Biomedical Research, Cambridge, United States
    Competing interests
    No competing interests declared.
  20. Frank Stegmeier

    KSQ Therapeutics, Cambridge, United States
    Competing interests
    No competing interests declared.
  21. Michael R Schlabach

    KSQ Therapeutics, Cambridge, United States
    Competing interests
    No competing interests declared.
  22. William C Hahn

    Department of Medical Oncology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, United States
    For correspondence
    william_hahn@dfci.harvard.edu
    Competing interests
    William C Hahn, A consultant and receives research support from Novartis.
    ORCID icon "This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0003-2840-9791

Funding

National Cancer Institute (R01 CA130998)

  • William C Hahn

Dana-Farber Cancer Institute Hale Center for Pancreatic Cancer

  • Andrew J Aguirre

Perry S. Levy Endowed Fellowship

  • Andrew J Aguirre

Harvard Catalyst and Harvard Clinical and Translational Science Center (UL1 TR001102)

  • Andrew J Aguirre

National Cancer Institute (U01 CA176058)

  • William C Hahn

National Cancer Institute (U01 CA199253)

  • William C Hahn

Hope Funds for Cancer Research (Postdoctoral Fellowship HFCR-11-03-03)

  • Elsa Beyer Krall

National Institutes of Health (Postdoctoral Fellowship F32 CA189306)

  • Elsa Beyer Krall

Susan G. Komen Foundation (Postdoctoral Fellowship PDF12230602)

  • Nina Ilic

Terri Brodeur Breast Cancer Foundation (Postdoctoral Fellowship)

  • Nina Ilic

Pancreatic Cancer Action Network (Samuel Stroum Fellowship)

  • Andrew J Aguirre

American Society of Clinical Oncology (Young Investigator Award)

  • Andrew J Aguirre

The funders had no role in study design, data collection and interpretation, or the decision to submit the work for publication.

Ethics

Animal experimentation: Mice were maintained and handled in accordance with the Novartis Institutes for Biomedical Research (NIBR) Animal Care and Use Committee protocols and regulations.

Copyright

© 2017, Krall et al.

This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License permitting unrestricted use and redistribution provided that the original author and source are credited.

Metrics

  • 7,846
    views
  • 1,666
    downloads
  • 115
    citations

Views, downloads and citations are aggregated across all versions of this paper published by eLife.

Download links

A two-part list of links to download the article, or parts of the article, in various formats.

Downloads (link to download the article as PDF)

Open citations (links to open the citations from this article in various online reference manager services)

Cite this article (links to download the citations from this article in formats compatible with various reference manager tools)

  1. Elsa Beyer Krall
  2. Belinda Wang
  3. Diana M Munoz
  4. Nina Ilic
  5. Srivatsan Raghavan
  6. Matthew J Niederst
  7. Kristine Yu
  8. David A Ruddy
  9. Andrew J Aguirre
  10. Jong Wook Kim
  11. Amanda J Redig
  12. Justin F Gainor
  13. Juliet A Williams
  14. John M Asara
  15. John G Doench
  16. Pasi A Janne
  17. Alice T Shaw
  18. Robert E McDonald III
  19. Jeffrey A Engelman
  20. Frank Stegmeier
  21. Michael R Schlabach
  22. William C Hahn
(2017)
KEAP1 loss modulates sensitivity to kinase targeted therapy in lung cancer
eLife 6:e18970.
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.18970

Share this article

https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.18970

Further reading

    1. Cancer Biology
    2. Cell Biology
    Kourosh Hayatigolkhatmi, Chiara Soriani ... Simona Rodighiero
    Tools and Resources

    Understanding the cell cycle at the single-cell level is crucial for cellular biology and cancer research. While current methods using fluorescent markers have improved the study of adherent cells, non-adherent cells remain challenging. In this study, we addressed this gap by combining a specialized surface to enhance cell attachment, the FUCCI(CA)2 sensor, an automated image analysis pipeline, and a custom machine learning algorithm. This approach enabled precise measurement of cell cycle phase durations in non-adherent cells. This method was validated in acute myeloid leukemia cell lines NB4 and Kasumi-1, which have unique cell cycle characteristics, and we tested the impact of cell cycle-modulating drugs on NB4 cells. Our cell cycle analysis system, which is also compatible with adherent cells, is fully automated and freely available, providing detailed insights from hundreds of cells under various conditions. This report presents a valuable tool for advancing cancer research and drug development by enabling comprehensive, automated cell cycle analysis in both adherent and non-adherent cells.