Discovery of Selective, Covalent FGFR4 Inhibitors with Antitumor Activity in Models of Hepatocellular Carcinoma.
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ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Liu H
PROVIDER: S-EPMC7549259 | biostudies-literature |
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
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Project description:FGF19/FGFR4 autocrine signaling is one of the main targets for multi-kinase inhibitors (MKIs). However, the molecular mechanisms underlying FGF19/FGFR4 signaling in the antitumor effects to MKIs in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) remain unclear. In this study, the impact of FGFR4/ERK signaling inhibition on HCC following MKI treatment was analyzed in vitro and in vivo assays. Serum FGF19 in HCC patients treated using MKIs, such as sorafenib (n = 173) and lenvatinib (n = 40), was measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Lenvatinib strongly inhibited the phosphorylation of FRS2 and ERK, the downstream signaling molecules of FGFR4, compared with sorafenib and regorafenib. Additional use of a selective FGFR4 inhibitor with sorafenib further suppressed FGFR4/ERK signaling and synergistically inhibited HCC cell growth in culture and xenograft subcutaneous tumors. Although serum FGF19high (n = 68) patients treated using sorafenib exhibited a significantly shorter progression-free survival and overall survival than FGF19low (n = 105) patients, there were no significant differences between FGF19high (n = 21) and FGF19low (n = 19) patients treated using lenvatinib. In conclusion, robust inhibition of FGF19/FGFR4 is of importance for the exertion of antitumor effects of MKIs. Serum FGF19 levels may function as a predictive marker for drug response and survival in HCC patients treated using sorafenib.
| S-EPMC7935880 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Aberrant fibroblast growth factor 19 (FGF19) signaling mediated by its receptor, FGF receptor 4 (FGFR4), and coreceptor, klotho β (KLB), is a driver of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Several potent FGFR4-selective inhibitors have been developed but have exhibited limited efficacy in HCC clinical trials. Here, by using HCC cell line models from the Cancer Cell Line Encyclopedia (CCLE) and the Liver Cancer Model Repository (LIMORE), we show that selective FGFR4 inactivation was not sufficient to inhibit cancer cell proliferation and tumor growth in FGF19-positive HCC. Moreover, genetic inactivation of KLB in these HCC cells resulted in a fitness defect more severe than that resulting from inactivation of FGFR4. By a combination of biochemical and genetic approaches, we found that KLB associated with FGFR3 and FGFR4 to mediate the prosurvival functions of FGF19. KLB mutants defective in interacting with FGFR3 or FGFR4 could not support the growth or survival of HCC cells. Genome-wide CRISPR loss-of-function screening revealed that FGFR3 restricted the activity of FGFR4-selective inhibitors in inducing cell death; the pan-FGFR inhibitor erdafitinib displayed superior potency than FGFR4-selective inhibitors in suppressing the growth and survival of FGF19-positive HCC cells. Among FGF19-positive HCC cases from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA), FGFR3 is prevalently coexpressed with FGFR4 and KLB, suggesting that FGFR redundancy may be a common mechanism underlying the de novo resistance to FGFR4 inhibitors. Our study provides a rationale for clinical testing of pan-FGFR inhibitors as a treatment strategy for FGF19-positive HCC.
| S-EPMC9546626 | biostudies-literature
Project description:The fibroblast growth factor (FGF)-FGF receptor (FGFR) signaling system plays critical roles in a variety of normal developmental and physiological processes. It is also well documented that dysregulation of FGF-FGFR signaling may have important roles in tumor development and progression. The FGFR4-FGF19 signaling axis has been implicated in the development of hepatocellular carcinomas (HCCs) in mice, and potentially in humans. In this study, we demonstrate that FGFR4 is required for hepatocarcinogenesis; the progeny of FGF19 transgenic mice, which have previously been shown to develop HCCs, bred with FGFR4 knockout mice fail to develop liver tumors. To further test the importance of FGFR4 in HCC, we developed a blocking anti-FGFR4 monoclonal antibody (LD1). LD1 inhibited: 1) FGF1 and FGF19 binding to FGFR4, 2) FGFR4-mediated signaling, colony formation, and proliferation in vitro, and 3) tumor growth in a preclinical model of liver cancer in vivo. Finally, we show that FGFR4 expression is elevated in several types of cancer, including liver cancer, as compared to normal tissues. These findings suggest a modulatory role for FGFR4 in the development and progression of hepatocellular carcinoma and that FGFR4 may be an important and novel therapeutic target in treating this disease.
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Project description:The mitogen-activated kinases JNK1/2/3 are key enzymes in signaling modules that transduce and integrate extracellular stimuli into coordinated cellular response. Here, we report the discovery of irreversible inhibitors of JNK1/2/3. We describe two JNK3 cocrystal structures at 2.60 and 2.97 Å resolution that show the compounds form covalent bonds with a conserved cysteine residue. JNK-IN-8 is a selective JNK inhibitor that inhibits phosphorylation of c-Jun, a direct substrate of JNK, in cells exposed to submicromolar drug in a manner that depends on covalent modification of the conserved cysteine residue. Extensive biochemical, cellular, and pathway-based profiling establish the selectivity of JNK-IN-8 for JNK and suggests that the compound will be broadly useful as a pharmacological probe of JNK-dependent signal transduction. Potential lead compounds have also been identified for kinases, including IRAK1, PIK3C3, PIP4K2C, and PIP5K3.
| S-EPMC3270411 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the sixth most common type of cancer, with an increasing mortality rate. Aberrant expression of fibroblast growth factor 19-fibroblast growth factor receptor 4 (FGF19-FGFR4) is reported to be an oncogenic-driver pathway for HCC patients. Thus, the FGF19-FGFR4 signaling pathway is a promising target for the treatment of HCC. Several pan-FGFR (1-4) and FGFR4-specific inhibitors are in different phases of clinical trials. In this review, we summarize the information, recent developments, binding modes, selectivity, and clinical trial phases of different available FGFR4/pan-FGF inhibitors. We also discuss future perspectives and highlight the points that should be addressed to improve the efficacy of these inhibitors.
| S-EPMC6627123 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Protein arginine methyltransferase 5 (PRMT5) is known to symmetrically dimethylate numerous cytosolic and nuclear proteins that are involved in a variety of cellular processes. Recent findings have revealed its potential as a cancer therapeutic target. PRMT5 possesses a cysteine (C449) in the active site, unique to PRMT5. Therefore, covalent PRMT5 inhibition is an attractive chemical approach. Herein, we report an exciting discovery of a series of novel hemiaminals that under physiological conditions can be converted to aldehydes and react with C449 to form covalent adducts, which presumably undergo an unprecedented elimination to form the thiol-vinyl ethers, as indicated by electron density in the co-crystal structure of the PRMT5/MEP50 complex.
| S-EPMC6627734 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Histone lysine demethylase (KDMs) are involved in the dynamic regulation of gene expression by reversible regulation of the methylation levels on lysine residues in histone tails. Among the KDMs, the jumonji (JmjC)-domain-containing KDMs (KDM2-7) are Fe(II), 2- OG (α-ketoglutarate) and molecular oxygen-dependent enzymes that employ an oxygenase mechanism to demethylate specific methylation states at various histone sites. KDMs play a critical role in several biological processes such as cell differentiation, inflammation, cancer progression and resistance. Achieving selectivity over the different families of KDMs has been a major challenge. Here we report potent and selective KDM5 covalent inhibitors designed to target a cysteine residue only present in the KDM5 sub-family. In vitro assays show that compounds are selective for the KDM5 sub-family, showing potencies in the low nanomolar range, with higher affinity for KDM5A/B. The covalent binding to the targeted proteins was proved by MS. A kinetic approach was studied in order to describe the components of overall inhibitor potency (reversible binding and chemical reactivity), showing a time-dependent decrease of IC50 values for irreversible inhibition. Additional 2-OG competition assays show that compounds were non 2-OG competitive and target engagement and ChIPs-seq assays showed that the compounds inhibited the KDM5 members in cells in the low micromolar and they induce a global increase of the H3K4Me3 mark.
2018-12-10 | GSE118589 | GEO
Project description:Background and aimsEpstein-Barr virus (EBV)-associated gastric carcinoma (EBVaGC) is the most common EBV-associated cancer and accounts for ~ 10% of all gastric cancers (GC). Epstein-Barr virus nuclear antigen 1 (EBNA1), which is critical for the replication and maintenance of the EBV latent genome, is consistently expressed in all EBVaGC tumors. We previously developed small molecule inhibitors of EBNA1. In this study, we investigated the efficacy and selectivity of an EBNA1 inhibitor in cell-based and animal xenograft models of EBV-positive and EBV-negative gastric carcinoma.MethodsWe tested the potency of an EBNA1 inhibitor, VK-1727, in vitro and in xenograft studies, using EBV-positive (SNU719 and YCCEL1) and EBV-negative (AGS and MKN74) GC cell lines. After treatment, we analyzed cell viability, proliferation, and RNA expression of EBV genes by RT-qPCR.ResultsTreatment with VK-1727 selectively inhibits cell cycle progression and proliferation in vitro. In animal studies, treatment with an EBNA1 inhibitor resulted in a significant dose-dependent decrease in tumor growth in EBVaGC xenograft models, but not in EBV-negative GC xenograft studies. Gene expression analysis revealed that short term treatment in cell culture tended towards viral gene activation, while long-term treatment in animal xenografts showed a significant decrease in viral gene expression.ConclusionsEBNA1 inhibitors are potent and selective inhibitors of cell growth in tissue culture and animal models of EBV-positive GC. Long-term treatment with EBNA1 inhibitors may lead to loss of EBV in mouse xenografts. These results suggest that pharmacological targeting of EBNA1 may be an effective strategy to treat patients with EBVaGC.
| S-EPMC8338878 | biostudies-literature
Project description:we use MV4-11 as cellular models to analyze differential gene expression.
2017-10-03 | GSE104522 | GEO
Project description:The purpose of this study was to investigate the antitumor activity of regorafenib and sorafenib in preclinical models of HCC and to assess their mechanism of action by associated changes in protein expression in a HCC-PDX mouse model. Both drugs were administered orally once daily at 10 mg/kg (regorafenib) or 30 mg/kg (sorafenib), which recapitulate the human exposure at the maximally tolerated dose in mice. In a H129 hepatoma model, survival times differed significantly between regorafenib versus vehicle (p=0.0269; median survival times 36 vs 27 days), but not between sorafenib versus vehicle (p=0.1961; 33 vs 28 days). Effects on tumor growth were assessed in 10 patient-derived HCC xenograft (HCC-PDX) models. Significant tumor growth inhibition was observed in 8/10 models with regorafenib and 7/10 with sorafenib; in four models, superior response was observed with regorafenib versus sorafenib which was deemed not to be due to lower sorafenib exposure. Bead-based multiplex western blot analysis was performed with total protein lysates from drug- and vehicle-treated HCC-PDX xenografts. Protein expression was substantially different in regorafenib- and sorafenib-treated samples compared with vehicle. The pattern of upregulated proteins was similar with both drugs and indicates an activated RAF/MEK/ERK pathway, but more proteins were downregulated with sorafenib versus regorafenib. Overall, both regorafenib and sorafenib were effective in mouse models of HCC, although several cases showed better regorafenib activity which may explain the observed efficacy of regorafenib in sorafenib-refractory patients.
| S-EPMC5739799 | biostudies-literature