Project description:Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) has one of the lowest cancer survival rates. Although KRAS oncogenes are responsible for the initiation of most PDACs, thus far KRAS inhibitors have not changed their clinical outcome. Here, we describe a therapeutic strategy that combines inhibition of three independent signaling nodes involved in downstream (RAF1), upstream (EGFR) and orthogonal (STAT3) KRAS signaling pathways. Genetic elimination and/or pharmacological inhibition/degradation of these independent nodes in orthotopic mouse tumor models results in their complete and durable regression. The efficacy of this therapeutic strategy has also been validated in several patient-derived organoid (PDO) and xenograft (PDX) PDAC tumor models using a combination of a Pan-ERBB inhibitor (Afatinib), a selective STAT3 PROTAC (SD36) and a RAF1 shRNA. Importantly, this triple strategy did not induce significant toxicities. These results open the door to the development of novel targeted therapies for PDAC patients.
Project description:Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) has one of the lowest cancer survival rates. Although KRAS oncogenes are responsible for the initiation of most PDACs, thus far KRAS inhibitors have not changed their clinical outcome. Here, we describe a therapeutic strategy that combines inhibition of three independent signaling nodes involved in downstream (RAF1), upstream (EGFR) and orthogonal (STAT3) KRAS signaling pathways. Genetic elimination and/or pharmacological inhibition/degradation of these independent nodes in orthotopic mouse tumor models results in their complete and durable regression. The efficacy of this therapeutic strategy has also been validated in several patient-derived organoid (PDO) and xenograft (PDX) PDAC tumor models using a combination of a Pan-ERBB inhibitor (Afatinib), a selective STAT3 PROTAC (SD36) and a RAF1 shRNA. Importantly, this triple strategy did not induce significant toxicities. These results open the door to the development of novel targeted therapies for PDAC patients.
Project description:Chemotherapy and macrophage depletion leads to T cell memory activation and durable triple negative breast cancer regression in p53 null mouse models.
Project description:Despite the high prevalence of cancers driven by KRAS mutations, to date only the G12C mutation has been clinically proven to be druggable via covalent targeting of the mutated cysteine amino acid residue. However, in many cancer indications other KRAS mutations, such as G12D and -V, are far more prevalent and small molecule concepts that can address a wider variety of oncogenic KRAS alleles are in high clinical demand. Here we show that a single small molecule degrader can be used to simultaneously and potently target multiple KRAS alleles, including those not yet tractable by inhibitors. Degradation of oncogenic KRAS results in profound and sustained pathway modulation across a broad range of KRAS mutant cell lines. As a result, KRAS degraders inhibit growth of the majority of cancer cell lines driven by KRAS mutations while sparing models without genetic KRAS aberrations. Finally, we demonstrate that pharmacological degradation of oncogenic KRAS leads to tumour regression in vivo. Together, these findings unveil a new path towards addressing KRAS driven cancers with small molecule degraders. This experiment corresponds to Figure 2g
Project description:Despite the high prevalence of cancers driven by KRAS mutations, to date only the G12C mutation has been clinically proven to be druggable via covalent targeting of the mutated cysteine amino acid residue. However, in many cancer indications other KRAS mutations, such as G12D and -V, are far more prevalent and small molecule concepts that can address a wider variety of oncogenic KRAS alleles are in high clinical demand. Here we show that a single small molecule degrader can be used to simultaneously and potently target multiple KRAS alleles, including those not yet tractable by inhibitors. Degradation of oncogenic KRAS results in profound and sustained pathway modulation across a broad range of KRAS mutant cell lines. As a result, KRAS degraders inhibit growth of the majority of cancer cell lines driven by KRAS mutations while sparing models without genetic KRAS aberrations. Finally, we demonstrate that pharmacological degradation of oncogenic KRAS leads to tumour regression in vivo. Together, these findings unveil a new path towards addressing KRAS driven cancers with small molecule degraders. This experiment corresponds to Extended data Figure 3.f) graph in the manuscript
Project description:Despite the high prevalence of cancers driven by KRAS mutations, to date only the G12C mutation has been clinically proven to be druggable via covalent targeting of the mutated cysteine amino acid residue1. However, in many cancer indications other KRAS mutations, such as G12D and -V, are far more prevalent and small molecule concepts that can address a wider variety of oncogenic KRAS alleles are in high clinical demand2. Here we show that a single small molecule can be used to simultaneously and potently degrade 13 out of 17 of the most prevalent oncogenic KRAS alleles, including those not yet tractable by inhibitors. Compared with inhibition, degradation of oncogenic KRAS results in more profound and sustained pathway modulation across a broad range of KRAS mutant cell lines. As a result, KRAS degraders inhibit growth of the majority of cancer cell lines driven by KRAS mutations while sparing models without genetic KRAS aberrations. Finally, we demonstrate that pharmacological degradation of oncogenic KRAS leads to tumour regression in vivo. Together, these findings unveil a new path towards addressing KRAS driven cancers with small molecule degraders. This is the proteomics analysis of ACBI3 and compoun 8, its negative control.
Project description:Pancreatic cancer is characterised by the prevalence of oncogenic mutations in KRAS. Previous studies have reported that altered Kras gene dosage drives progression and metastatic incidence in pancreatic cancer. While the role of oncogenic KRAS mutation is well characterised, the relevance of the partnering wild-type KRAS allele in pancreatic cancer is less well understood and controversial. Using in vivo mouse modelling of pancreatic cancer, we demonstrate that wild-type Kras restrains the oncogenic impact of mutant Kras, and drastically impacts both Kras-mediated tumourigenesis and therapeutic response. Mechanistically, deletion of wild-type Kras increases oncogenic Kras signalling through the downstream MAPK effector pathway, driving pancreatic intraepithelial neoplasia (PanIN) initiation. In addition, in the KPC mouse model, a more aggressive model of pancreatic cancer, loss of wild-type KRAS leads to accelerated initiation but delayed tumour progression. These tumours had altered stroma, downregulated Myc levels and an enrichment for immunogenic gene signatures. Importantly, loss of wild-type Kras sensitises Kras mutant tumours to MEK1/2 inhibition though tumours eventually become resistant and then rapidly progress. This study demonstrates the repressive role of wild-type Kras during pancreatic tumourigenesis and highlights the critical impact of the presence of wild-type KRAS on tumourigenesis and therapeutic response in pancreatic cancer.
Project description:KRAS mutant pancreatic tumors have poor prognosis and few therapeutic options. Here, Frank et al. show that the combination of RMC4550 (SHP2 inhibitor) and LY3214996 (ERK inhibitor) effectively impairs tumor growth and induces tumor regression in multiplein vivo models of PDAC .