The ERK inhibitor GDC-0994 selectively inhibits growth of BRAF mutant cancer cells
Y. Chen, Ye Sang, Shiyong Li, Junyu Xue, Mengke Chen, Shubin Hong, Weiming Lv, Kartik Sehgal, Haipeng Xiao, Rengyun Liu
Abstract
BRAF or RAS mutation-induced aberrant activation of the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathway is frequently observed in human cancers. As the key downstream node of MAPK pathway, ERK1/2 is as an important therapeutic target. GDC-0994 (ravoxertinib), an orally bioavailable, highly selective small-molecule inhibitor of ERK1/2, showed acceptable safety and pharmacodynamic profile in a recent phase I clinical trial. In this study, we investigated dependence of the anti-tumor effect of ERK inhibitor GDC-0994 on genetic alterations in the MAPK pathway. The results showed that GDC-0994 sharply inhibited cell proliferation and colony formation and induced remarkable G1 phase cell-cycle arrest in cancer cells harboring BRAF mutation but had little effect on cell behaviors in most RAS mutant or wild-type cell lines. The expression of a large number of genes, particularly the genes in the cell cycle pathway, were significantly changed after GDC-0994 treatment in BRAF mutant cells, while no remarkable expression change of such genes was observed in wild-type cells. Moreover, GDC-0994 selectively inhibited tumor growth in a BRAF mutant xenograft mice model. Our findings demonstrate a BRAF mutation-dependent anti-tumor effect of GDC-0994 and provide a rational strategy for patient selection for ERK1/2 inhibitor treatment.