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Stromal-derived NRG1 enables oncogenic KRAS bypass in pancreas cancer

ABSTRACT: Activating KRAS mutations (KRAS*) in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) drive anabolic metabolism and support tumor maintenance. KRAS* inhibitors show initial anti-tumor activity followed by recurrence due to cancer cell intrinsic and immune mediated paracrine mechanisms. Here, we explored the potential role of cancer associated fibroblasts (CAFs) in enabling KRAS* bypass and identified CAF-derived NRG1 activation of cancer cell ERBB2/ERBB3 receptor tyrosine kinases as a mechanism by which KRAS* independent growth is supported. Genetic extinction or pharmacological inhibition of KRAS* resulted in upregulation of ERBB2 and ERBB3 expression in human and murine models, which prompted cancer cell utilization of CAF-derived NRG1 as a survival factor. Genetic depletion or pharmacological inhibition of ERBB2/ERBB3 or NRG1 abolished KRAS* bypass and synergized with KRASG12D inhibitor in combination treatments in mouse and human PDAC models. Thus, we found that CAFs can contribute to KRAS* inhibitor therapy resistance via paracrine mechanisms, providing an actionable therapeutic strategy to improve the effectiveness of KRAS* inhibitors in PDAC patients.

ORGANISM(S): Mus musculus

PROVIDER: GSE240232 | GEO | 2023/09/22

REPOSITORIES: GEO

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Project description:Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) remains among the most lethal of human cancers underscoring the need to identify new therapeutic vulnerabilities. Previously, we reported high expression of transcriptional co-regulators C-terminal binding proteins (CtBP) 1 and 2 in human PDAC, however their precise role in PDAC formation or progression remains unclear. Here, we have studied PDAC tumor dependency on CtBPs for growth and metastasis using an orthotopic syngeneic pancreatic tumor mouse model. CRISPR-based homozygous deletion of Ctbp2 dramatically decreased PDAC tumor growth, drastically reduced metastatic potential, and significantly prolonged survival. Interrogating differential gene expression of the orthotopic PDAC tumors from CtBP2 WT vs. CtBP2 KO cohorts, we identified significant downregulation of the EGFR-superfamily receptor ErbB3 in CtBP2 KO tumors, and further determined that CtBP regulates expression of both the ErbB2 and 3 EGFR superfamily genes in PDAC cells. We therefore hypothesized that CtBP regulation of physiologic ErbB2/3 signaling contributes, in part, to PDAC growth and metastasis. Indeed, we observed that CtBP2 KO cells exhibited severely attenuated activation of phospho-Akt after neuregulin stimulation of ErbB2/3, and we demonstrate that human PDAC cells also show CtBP dependence of ErbB2/3 expression. Our results suggest that a subset of PDAC tumors is dependent on physiologic ErbB2/3 signaling and could be targeted by pharmacologic inhibitors of ErbB2 and/or ErbB3. Providing proof of concept, the ErbB2-targeted multikinase inhibitor lapatinib, but not the ErbB1/EGFR targeted agent erlotinib, effectively killed ErbB3 expressing PDAC cells, while CtBP2 KO cells where ErbB3 expression was extinguished, were resistant to lapatinib. Taken together, our data suggests that ErBb2/3 targeted therapeutics can effectively target a critical PDAC dependency on physiologic ErbB2/3 signaling which is the result of CtBP’s oncogenic transcriptional program that drives PDAC tumor progression.

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Stromal-derived NRG1 enables oncogenic KRAS bypass in pancreas cancer

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