Targeting BRAF in thyroid cancer.
Ontology highlight
ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Espinosa AV
PROVIDER: S-EPMC2360215 | biostudies-other | 2007 Jan
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-other
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Project description:Thyroid cancer is the most common endocrine malignancy and several genetic events have been described to promote the development of thyroid carcinogenesis. Besides the effects of specific mutations on thyroid cancer development, the molecular mechanisms controlling tumorigenesis, tumor behavior, and drug resistance are still largely unknown. Cancer organoids have been proposed as a powerful tool to study aspects related to tumor development and progression and appear promising to test individual responses to therapies. Here, using mESC-derived thyroid organoids, we developed a BrafV637E-inducible model able to recapitulate the features of papillary thyroid cancer in vitro. Overexpression of the murine BrafV637E mutation, equivalent to BrafV600E in humans, rapidly triggers to MAPK activation, cell dedifferentiation, and disruption of follicular organization. BrafV637E-expressing organoids show a transcriptomic signature for p53, focal adhesion, ECM-receptor interactions, EMT, and inflammatory signaling pathways. Finally, PTC-like thyroid organoids were used for drug screening assays. The combination of MAPK and PI3K inhibitors reversed BrafV637E oncogene-promoted cell dedifferentiation while restoring thyroid follicle organization and function in vitro. Our results demonstrate that pluripotent stem cells-derived thyroid cancer organoids can mimic tumor development and features while providing an efficient tool for testing novel targeted therapies.
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Project description:BackgroundMutations of v-raf murine sarcoma viral oncogene homolog B (BRAF) are commonly identified in papillary and anaplastic thyroid carcinoma and are associated with worse prognosis compared with the wild type. BRAF inhibition in papillary thyroid carcinoma cell lines and xenografts inhibits proliferation and decreases downstream phosphorylation. Our objectives were to analyze safety and efficacy of the selective BRAF inhibitor dabrafenib in patients with metastatic BRAF-mutant thyroid carcinoma.MethodsWe present the subset of patients with BRAF-mutant thyroid carcinoma enrolled in a larger phase 1 study, the main results of which are reported elsewhere.ResultsFourteen patients with BRAF(V600E)-mutant thyroid carcinoma were enrolled, of whom 13 (93%) had received prior radioactive iodine. The median duration on treatment was 8.4 months, and seven (50%) patients received treatment for ≥10 months. The most common treatment-related adverse events were skin papillomas (n=8, 57%), hyperkeratosis (n=5, 36%), and alopecia (n=4, 29%), all of which were grade 1. Treatment-related adverse events grade ≥3 included grade 4 elevated lipase and grade 3 elevated amylase, fatigue, febrile neutropenia, and cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma (n=1 for each). Four (29%) partial responses were observed, and nine (64%) patients achieved at least 10% decrease. Only one responder progressed while on the study drug after a response duration of 9.3 months. The other three responders had not progressed, with response duration of 4.6+, 10.4+, and 21.4+ months. With seven (50%) patients showing no progression at the time of study completion, the median progression-free survival was 11.3 months.ConclusionsDabrafenib was well tolerated and resulted in durable responses in BRAF-mutant differentiated thyroid carcinoma patients.
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Project description:Mitogen Activated Protein Kinase (MAPK) pathway activation is a frequent event in human cancer and is often the result of activating mutations in the BRAF and RAS oncogenes. BRAF missense mutations, the vast majority of which are V600E, occur in approximately 8% of human tumors. These kinase domain mutations, which are non-overlapping in distribution with RAS mutations, are observed most frequently in melanoma but are also common in tumors arising in the colon, thyroid, lung, and other sites. Supporting its classification as an oncogene, (V600E)BRAF stimulates ERK signaling, induces proliferation, and is capable of promoting transformation. Given the frequent occurrence of BRAF mutations in human cancer and the continued requirement for BRAF activity in the tumors in which it is mutated, efforts are underway to develop targeted inhibitors of BRAF and its downstream effectors. These agents offer the possibility of greater efficacy and less toxicity than the systemic therapies currently available for tumors driven by activating mutations of MAPK pathway components. Early clinical results with the BRAF-selective inhibitors PLX4032 and GSK2118436 suggest that this strategy will prove successful in a select group of patients whose tumors are driven by oncogenic BRAF.
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Project description:MAPK signaling inhibitor (MAPKi) therapies show limited efficacy for advanced thyroid cancers despite constitutive activation of the signaling correlates with disease recurrence and persistence. Understanding how BRAF pathway stimulates tumorigenesis could lead to new therapeutic targets. Here, through genetic and pathological approaches, we demonstrate that BRAFV600E promotes thyroid cancer development by increasing myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs) penetrance. This BRAFV600E-induced immune suppression involves re-activation of the developmental factor TBX3, which in turn up-regulates CXCR2 ligands in a TLR2-NFκB dependent manner, leading to MDSCs recruitment into the tumor microenvironment. CXCR2 inhibition or MDSCs repression improves MAPKi therapy effect. Clinically, high TBX3 expression correlates with BRAFV600E mutation and increased CXCR2 ligands, along with abundant MDSCs infiltration. Thus, our study uncovers a BRAFV600E-TBX3-CXCLs-MDSCs axis that guides patient stratification and could be targeted to improve the efficacy of MAPKi therapy in advanced thyroid cancer patients.
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Project description:As a selective inhibitor of BRAF kinase, dabrafenib has shown potent anti-tumour activities in patients with BRAFV600E mutant anaplastic thyroid cancer. However, the resistance of thyroid cancer cells to dabrafenib limited its therapeutic effect. The effects of melatonin and dabrafenib as monotherapy or in combination on the proliferation, cell cycle arrest, apoptosis, migration and invasion of anaplastic thyroid cancer cells were examined. The molecular mechanism involved in drug combinations was also revealed. Melatonin enhanced dabrafenib-mediated inhibition of cell proliferation, migration and invasion, and promoted dabrafenib-induced apoptosis and cell cycle arrest in anaplastic thyroid cancer cells. Molecular mechanistic studies further uncovered that melatonin synergized with dabrafenib to inhibit AKT and EMT signalling pathways. Furthermore, melatonin and dabrafenib synergistically inhibited the expression of hTERT, and the inhibition of cell viability and the induction of cell cycle arrest mediated by the combination of these two drugs were reversed by hTERT overexpression. Taken together, our results demonstrated that melatonin synergized the anti-tumour effect of dabrafenib in human anaplastic thyroid cancer cells by inhibiting multiple signalling pathways, and provided new insights in exploring the potential therapeutic targets for the treatment of anaplastic thyroid cancer.
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Project description:Medullary thyroid cancer (MTC) is a malignancy of the calcitonin-producing parafollicular cells of the thyroid gland. Surgery is the only curative treatment for this cancer. External beam radiation therapy is reserved for adjuvant treatment of MTC with aggressive features. Targeted therapeutics vandetanib and cabozantinib are approved for the treatment of aggressive and metastatic tumors that are not amenable to surgery. The use of these multikinase inhibitors are supported by the observed overactivation of the RET oncoprotein in a large subpopulation of MTCs. However, not all patients carry oncogenic alterations of this kinase. Hence, there is still a need for comprehensive molecular characterization of MTC utilizing whole-genome and transcriptome-sequencing methodologies with the aim of identifying targetable mutations. Here, we describe the genomic profiles of two medullary thyroid cancers and report the presence of a putative oncogenic BRAF fusion in one. Such alterations, previously observed in other malignancies and known targets of available drugs, can benefit patients who currently have no treatment options.
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Project description:BackgroundRAS-to-ERK signaling is crucial for the onset and progression of advanced thyroid carcinoma, and blocking ERK dimerization provides a therapeutic benefit in several human carcinomas. Here we analyzed the effects of DEL-22379, a relatively specific ERK dimerization inhibitor, on the activation of the RAS-to-ERK signaling cascade and on tumor-related processes in vitro and in vivo.MethodsWe used a panel of four human anaplastic thyroid carcinoma (ATC) cell lines harboring BRAF or RAS mutations to analyze ERK dynamics and tumor-specific characteristics. We also assessed the impact of DEL-22379 on the transcriptional landscape of ATC cell lines using RNA-sequencing and evaluated its therapeutic efficacy in an orthotopic mouse model of ATC.ResultsDEL-22379 impaired upstream ERK activation in BRAF- but not RAS-mutant cells. Cell viability and metastasis-related processes were attenuated by DEL-22379 treatment, but mostly in BRAF-mutant cells, whereas in vivo tumor growth and dissemination were strongly reduced for BRAF-mutant cells and mildly reduced for RAS-mutant cells. Transcriptomics analyses indicated that DEL-22379 modulated the transcriptional landscape of BRAF- and RAS-mutant cells in opposite directions.ConclusionsOur findings establish that BRAF- and RAS-mutant thyroid cells respond differentially to DEL-22379, which cannot be explained by the previously described mechanism of action of the inhibitor. Nonetheless, DEL-22379 demonstrated significant anti-tumor effects against BRAF-mutant cells in vivo with an apparent lack of toxicity, making it an interesting candidate for the development of combinatorial treatments. Our data underscore the differences elicited by the specific driver mutation for thyroid cancer onset and progression, which should be considered for experimental and clinical approaches.
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Project description:Background Anaplastic thyroid cancer (ATC) is aggressive with a poor prognosis, partly because of the immunosuppressive microenvironment created by tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs). Purpose To understand the relationship between TAM infiltration, tumor vascularization, and corresponding drug delivery by using ferumoxytol-enhanced MRI and macrin in an ATC mouse model. Materials and Methods ATC tumors were generated in 6-8-week-old female B6129SF1/J mice through intrathyroid injection to model orthotopic tumors, or intravenously to model hematogenous metastasis, and prospectively enrolled randomly into treatment cohorts (n = 94 total; August 1, 2018, to January 15, 2020). Mice were treated with vehicle or combined serine/threonine-protein kinase B-Raf (BRAF) kinase inhibitor (BRAFi) and anti-PDL1 antibody (aPDL1). A subset was cotreated with therapies, including an approximately 70-nm model drug delivery nanoparticle (DDNP) to target TAM, and an antibody-neutralizing colony stimulating factor 1 receptor (CSF1R). Imaging was performed at the macroscopic level with ferumoxytol-MRI and microscopically with macrin. Genetically engineered BrafV600E/WT p53-null allografts were used and complemented by a GFP-transgenic derivative and human xenografts. Tumor-bearing organs were processed by using tissue clearing and imaged with confocal microscopy and MRI. Two-tailed Wilcoxon tests were used for comparison (≥five per group). Results TAM levels were higher in orthotopic thyroid tumors compared with pulmonary metastatic lesions by 79% ± 23 (standard deviation; P < .001). These findings were concordant with ferumoxytol MRI, which showed 136% ± 88 higher uptake in thyroid lesions (P = .02) compared with lung lesions. BRAFi and aPDL1 combination therapy resulted in higher tumor DDNP delivery by 39% ± 14 in pulmonary lesions (P = .004). Compared with the untreated group, tumors following BRAFi, aPDL1, and CSF1R-blocking antibody combination therapy did not show greater levels of TAM or DDNP (P = .82). Conclusion In a mouse model of anaplastic thyroid cancer, ferumoxytol MRI showed 136% ± 88 greater uptake in orthotopic thyroid tumors compared with pulmonary lesions, which reflected high vascularization and greater tumor-associated macrophage (TAM) levels. Serine/threonine-protein kinase B-Raf inhibitor and anti-programmed death ligand 1 antibody elicited higher local TAM levels and 43% ± 20 greater therapeutic nanoparticle delivery but not higher vascularization in pulmonary tumors. © RSNA, 2020 Online supplemental material is available for this article. See also the editorial by Luker in this issue.
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Project description:Advanced human thyroid cancers are densely infiltrated with tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs) and this correlates with a poor prognosis. We used BRAF-induced papillary thyroid cancer (PTC) mouse models to examine the role of TAMs in PTC progression. Following conditional activation of BRAF(V600E) in murine thyroids there is an increased expression of the TAM chemoattractants Csf-1 and Ccl-2. This is followed by the development of PTCs that are densely infiltrated with TAMs that express Csf-1r and Ccr2. Targeting CCR2-expressing cells during BRAF-induction reduced TAM density and impaired PTC development. This strategy also induced smaller tumors, decreased proliferation and restored a thyroid follicular architecture in established PTCs. In PTCs from mice that lacked CSF-1 or that received a c-FMS/CSF-1R kinase inhibitor, TAM recruitment and PTC progression was impaired, recapitulating the effects of targeting CCR2-expressing cells. Our data demonstrate that TAMs are pro-tumorigenic in advanced PTCs and that they can be targeted pharmacologically, which may be potentially useful for patients with advanced thyroid cancers.
| S-EPMC3553126 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BackgroundAnaplastic thyroid cancer (ATC) is one of the most aggressive malignancies, representing less than 5% of all thyroid carcinomas. Τhe median survival is limited to months due to the resistance of ATC to surgery, radioiodine therapy, radiotherapy and chemotherapy. This review will cover novel agents involving several cellular signaling pathways including the BRAF pathway. The BRAF inhibitor vemurafenib improves survival among patients with metastatic melanoma, hairy-cell leukemia and intracranial neoplasms with BRAF gene mutations. The frequency of a BRAF (V600E) mutation in ATC is about 25%.Case presentationWe report the first case of a marked partial response to adjuvant first line monotherapy with vemurafenib in BRAF V600E-mutated ATC. The 78-year-old man showed a sustained response for 7 months, thereafter scans revealed progressive disease and the patient died 10 months after first diagnosis. This case report is accompanied by a comprehensive review of current strategies and tools for ATC treatment.ConclusionsThis case and the review of current data confirm the benefit of BRAF inhibition in BRAF-mutated ATC, limited by acquired resistance to targeted therapy.
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