Tumor infiltration by T cells is paramount for effective anti-cancer immune responses. We hypothesized that the T cell receptor (TCR) repertoire of tumor infiltrating T lymphocytes could therefore be ...indicative of the functional state of these cells and determine disease course at different stages in cancer progression. Here we show that the diversity of the TCR of tumor infiltrating T cell at baseline is prognostic in various cancers, whereas the TCR clonality of T cell infiltrating metastatic melanoma pre-treatment is predictive for activity and efficacy of PD1 blockade immunotherapy.
We describe a mechanism of tumorigenesis mediated by kinase-dead BRAF in the presence of oncogenic RAS. We show that drugs that selectively inhibit BRAF drive RAS-dependent BRAF binding to CRAF, CRAF ...activation, and MEK–ERK signaling. This does not occur when oncogenic BRAF is inhibited, demonstrating that BRAF inhibition per se does not drive pathway activation; it only occurs when BRAF is inhibited in the presence of oncogenic RAS. Kinase-dead BRAF mimics the effects of the BRAF-selective drugs and kinase-dead Braf and oncogenic Ras cooperate to induce melanoma in mice. Our data reveal another paradigm of BRAF-mediated signaling that promotes tumor progression. They highlight the importance of understanding pathway signaling in clinical practice and of genotyping tumors prior to administering BRAF-selective drugs, to identify patients who are likely to respond and also to identify patients who may experience adverse effects.
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► BRAF activates ERK but in some circumstances BRAF inhibitors can induce tumor growth ► BRAF inhibitors drive BRAF-CRAF binding, activating ERK in cells with oncogenic RAS ► Kinase-dead mutants of BRAF have the same effect as BRAF inhibitors ► Oncogenic RAS and kinase-dead BRAF cooperate to induce melanoma in mice
Once melanomas have progressed with acquired resistance to mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK)-targeted therapy, mutational heterogeneity presents a major challenge. We therefore examined the ...therapy phase before acquired resistance had developed and discovered the melanoma survival oncogene MITF as a driver of an early non-mutational and reversible drug-tolerance state, which is induced by PAX3-mediated upregulation of MITF. A drug-repositioning screen identified the HIV1-protease inhibitor nelfinavir as potent suppressor of PAX3 and MITF expression. Nelfinavir profoundly sensitizes BRAF and NRAS mutant melanoma cells to MAPK-pathway inhibitors. Moreover, nelfinavir is effective in BRAF and NRAS mutant melanoma cells isolated from patients progressed on MAPK inhibitor (MAPKi) therapy and in BRAF/NRAS/PTEN mutant tumors. We demonstrate that inhibiting a driver of MAPKi-induced drug tolerance could improve current approaches of targeted melanoma therapy.
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•MITF is a driver of a reversible non-mutational drug-tolerance phase in melanoma•Drug repositioning identifies nelfinavir mesylate as a suppressor of MITF expression•Nelfinavir sensitizes BRAF and NRAS mutant melanoma to MAPK inhibitor treatment•A nelfinavir combination therapy overcomes NRAS-driven acquired resistance
Smith et al. discover PAX3-mediated overexpression of MITF as a reversible resistance mechanism to MAPK-pathway inhibition in BRAF mutant melanomas and identify nelfinavir, which inhibits this mechanism and sensitizes not only BRAF mutant but also BRAF and NRAS mutant melanoma cells to MAPK-pathway inhibitors.
Proinflammatory cytokines are frequently observed in the tumor microenvironment, and chronic inflammation is involved in cancer initiation and progression. We show that cytokine signaling through the ...receptor subunit GP130-IL6ST and the kinase JAK1 generates actomyosin contractility through Rho-kinase dependent signaling. This pathway generates contractile force in stromal fibroblasts to remodel the extracellular matrix to create tracks for collective migration of squamous carcinoma cells and provides the high levels of actomyosin contractility required for migration of individual melanoma cells in the rounded, “amoeboid” mode. Thus, cytokine signaling can generate actomyosin contractility in both stroma and tumor cells. Strikingly, actomyosin contractility itself positively modulates activity of the transcription factor STAT3 downstream of JAK1, demonstrating positive feedback within the signaling network.
► Cytokines signal via JAK1 to actomyosin contractility in tumor cells and stroma ► JAK1 signals to matrix remodelling in CAFs ► JAK1 signals to rounded/amoeboid movement of melanoma cells ► Round cells are found at invasive fronts of melanoma and stain for phospho-STAT3
The Microphthalmia-associated transcription factor (MITF) is an important regulator of cell-type specific functions in melanocytic cells. MITF is essential for the survival of pigmented cells, but ...whereas high levels of MITF drive melanocyte differentiation, lower levels are required to permit proliferation and survival of melanoma cells. MITF is phosphorylated by ERK, and this stimulates its activation, but also targets it for degradation through the ubiquitin-proteosome pathway, coupling MITF degradation to its activation. We have previously shown that because ERK is hyper-activated in melanoma cells in which BRAF is mutated, the MITF protein is constitutively down-regulated. Here we describe another intriguing aspect of MITF regulation by oncogenic BRAF in melanoma cells. We show oncogenic BRAF up-regulates MITF transcription through ERK and the transcription factor BRN2 (N-Oct3). In contrast, we show that in melanocytes this pathway does not exist because BRN2 is not expressed, demonstrating that MITF regulation is a newly acquired function of oncogenic BRAF that is not performed by the wild-type protein. Critically, in melanoma cells MITF is required downstream of oncogenic BRAF because it regulates expression of key cell cycle regulatory proteins such as CDK2 and CDK4. Wild-type BRAF does not regulate this pathway in melanocytes. Thus, we show that oncogenic BRAF exerts exquisite control over MITF on two levels. It downregulates the protein by stimulating its degradation, but then counteracts this by increasing transcription through BRN2. Our data suggest that oncogenic BRAF plays a critical role in regulating MITF expression to ensure that its protein levels are compatible with proliferation and survival of melanoma cells. We propose that its ability to appropriate the regulation of this critical factor explains in part why BRAF is such a potent oncogene in melanoma.
We generated cell lines resistant to BRAF inhibitors and show that the EGF receptor (EGFR)-SRC family kinase (SFK)-STAT3 signaling pathway was upregulated in these cells. In addition to driving ...proliferation of resistant cells, this pathway also stimulated invasion and metastasis. EGFR inhibitors cooperated with BRAF inhibitors to block the growth of the resistant cells in vitro and in vivo, and monotherapy with the broad specificity tyrosine kinase inhibitor dasatinib blocked growth and metastasis in vivo. We analyzed tumors from patients with intrinsic or acquired resistance to vemurafenib and observed increased EGFR and SFK activity. Furthermore, dasatinib blocked the growth and metastasis of one of the resistant tumors in immunocompromised mice. Our data show that BRAF inhibitor-mediated activation of EGFR-SFK-STAT3 signaling can mediate resistance in patients with BRAF-mutant melanoma. We describe 2 treatments that seem to overcome this resistance and could deliver therapeutic efficacy in patients with drug-resistant BRAF-mutant melanoma.
Therapies that target the driver oncogenes in cancer can achieve remarkable responses if patients are stratified for treatment. However, as with conventional therapies, patients often develop acquired resistance to targeted therapies, and a proportion of patients are intrinsically resistant and fail to respond despite the presence of an appropriate driver oncogene mutation. We found that the EGFR/SFK pathway mediated resistance to vemurafenib in BRAF -mutant melanoma and that BRAF and EGFR or SFK inhibition blocked proliferation and invasion of these resistant tumors, providing potentially effective therapeutic options for these patients.
The RAS/RAF/MEK/ERK signaling pathway has emerged as a major player in the induction and maintenance of melanoma, particularly the protein kinase BRAF, mutated in approximately 44% of melanoma cases. ...The availability of new drugs affecting the components of this pathway and pathways that may cooperate with MAPK signaling, means that targeted therapies are fast becoming a real option in the clinical management of melanoma. The authors discuss what they learned from clinical trials using first- and second-generation inhibitors to this pathway.
The protein kinase B-RAF is a human oncogene that is mutated in approximately70% of human melanomas and transforms mouse melanocytes. Microphthalmia-associated transcription factor (MITF) is an ...important melanocyte differentiation and survival factor, but its role in melanoma is unclear. In this study, we show that MITF expression is suppressed by oncogenic B-RAF in immortalized mouse and primary human melanocytes. However, low levels of MITF persist in human melanoma cells harboring oncogenic B-RAF, suggesting that additional mechanisms regulate its expression. MITF reexpression in B-RAF-transformed melanocytes inhibits their proliferation. Furthermore, differentiation-inducing factors that elevate MITF expression in melanoma cells inhibit their proliferation, but when MITF up-regulation is prevented by RNA interference, proliferation is not inhibited. These data suggest that MITF is an antiproliferation factor that is down-regulated by B-RAF signaling and that this is a crucial event for the progression of melanomas that harbor oncogenic B-RAF.
The protein kinase B-RAF is mutated in approximately 7% of human cancers. Most mutations are activating, but, surprisingly, a small number have reduced kinase activity. However, the latter can still ...stimulate cellular signaling through the MEK-ERK pathway because they activate the related family member C-RAF. We examine the mechanism underlying C-RAF activation by B-RAF. We show that C-RAF is activated in the cytosol in a RAS-independent manner that requires activation segment phosphorylation and binding of 14-3-3 to C-RAF. We show that wild-type B-RAF forms a complex with C-RAF in a RAS-dependent manner, whereas the mutants bind independently of RAS. Importantly, we show that wild-type B-RAF can also activate C-RAF. Our data suggest that B-RAF activates C-RAF through a mechanism involving 14-3-3 mediated heterooligomerization and C-RAF transphosphorylation. Thus, we have identified a B-RAF–C-RAF–MEK–ERK cascade that signals not only in cancer but also in normal cells.
Lysyl oxidase (LOX) remodels the tumour microenvironment by cross-linking the extracellular matrix. LOX overexpression is associated with poor cancer outcomes. Here, we find that LOX regulates the ...epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) to drive tumour progression. We show that LOX regulates EGFR by suppressing TGFβ1 signalling through the secreted protease HTRA1. This increases the expression of Matrilin2 (MATN2), an EGF-like domain-containing protein that traps EGFR at the cell surface to facilitate its activation by EGF. We describe a pharmacological inhibitor of LOX, CCT365623, which disrupts EGFR cell surface retention and delays the growth of primary and metastatic tumour cells in vivo. Thus, we show that LOX regulates EGFR cell surface retention to drive tumour progression, and we validate the therapeutic potential of inhibiting this pathway with the small molecule inhibitor CCT365623.
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