JNK Pathway Activation Modulates Acquired Resistance to EGFR/HER2-Targeted Therapies

Simin Manole1, Edward J Richards1, Aaron S Meyer2

  • 1Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research at MIT, Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Cancer Research
|July 25, 2016
PubMed

Insights

Receptor tyrosine kinase (RTK)-targeted therapies face resistance via bypass signaling. This study identifies the JNK pathway as crucial for RTK bypass resistance, enabling better combination therapy selection.

Area of Science:

  • Oncology
  • Molecular Biology
  • Pharmacology

Background:

  • Resistance to receptor tyrosine kinase (RTK)-targeted therapies limits clinical efficacy.
  • Bypass signaling, where untargeted RTKs reactivate survival pathways, is a common resistance mechanism.
  • Understanding the specific downstream signaling events driving bypass resistance is critical for effective combination therapies.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To identify key downstream signaling events responsible for RTK-mediated bypass resistance.
  • To elucidate how different RTKs contribute to therapeutic resistance through distinct downstream pathway activations.
  • To validate the role of specific pathways, such as JNK, in modulating bypass resistance.

Main Methods:

  • A combined experimental and statistical modeling approach was employed.
  • Analysis of downstream signaling events in response to RTK inhibition.
  • Experimental validation of identified resistance pathways.

Main Results:

  • Identified a set of pathway reactivations essential for RTK-mediated bypass resistance.
  • Demonstrated that downstream pathway activation differences qualitatively alter a receptor's capacity to drive resistance.
  • Validated that the JNK pathway is activated during bypass resistance and significantly modulates it.

Conclusions:

  • The JNK pathway plays a critical role in mediating RTK bypass resistance.
  • Findings inform the design of combination therapies to overcome bypass-mediated resistance.
  • Provides insights into network-level kinase dependence changes for prognostic assay development.

Related Concept Videos

Interactions Between Signaling Pathways01:19

Interactions Between Signaling Pathways

Signaling cascades usually lack linearity. Multiple pathways interact and regulate one another, allowing cells to integrate and respond to diverse environmental stimuli.
Convergence and divergence, and cross-talk between signaling pathways
Two distinct signaling pathways can converge on a single functional unit, which may either be a single protein or a complex of proteins. The response is either functionally distinct or synergistic between the two pathways but different from the response...
7.7K
Mitogens and the Cell Cycle02:38

Mitogens and the Cell Cycle

Mitogens and their receptors play a crucial role in controlling the progression of the cell cycle. However, the loss of mitogenic control over cell division leads to tumor formation. Therefore, mitogens and mitogen receptors play an important role in cancer research. For instance, the epidermal growth factor (EGF) - a type of mitogen and its transmembrane receptor (EGFR), decides the fate of the cell's proliferation. When EGF binds to EGFR, a member of the ErbB family of tyrosine kinase...
8.3K
MAPK Signaling Cascades01:07

MAPK Signaling Cascades

Mitogen-activated protein kinase, or MAPK pathway, activates three sequential kinases to regulate cellular responses such as proliferation, differentiation, survival, and apoptosis. The canonical MAPK pathway starts with a mitogen or growth factor binding to an RTK. The activated RTKs stimulate Ras, which recruits Raf or MAP3 Kinase (MAPKKK), the first kinase of the MAPK signaling cascade. Raf further phosphorylates and activates MEK or MAP2 Kinases (MAPKK), which in turn phosphorylates MAP...
9.1K
mTOR Signaling and Cancer Progression03:03

mTOR Signaling and Cancer Progression

The mammalian target of rapamycin or mTOR protein was discovered in 1994 due to its direct interaction with rapamycin. The protein gets its name from a yeast homolog called TOR. The mTOR protein complex in mammalian cells plays a major role in balancing anabolic processes such as the synthesis of proteins, lipids, and nucleotides and catabolic processes, such as autophagy in response to environmental cues, such as availability of nutrients and growth factors.
The mTOR pathway or the...
5.0K
NF-κB-dependent Signaling Pathway02:26

NF-κB-dependent Signaling Pathway

The transcription factor NF-κB was discovered in 1986 in the lab of Nobel laureate Professor David Baltimore, for its interaction with the immunoglobulin light chain enhancer in B-cells. After more than three decades of study, it is now evident that NF-κB regulates the expression of over 100 genes. Most of these genes play an essential role in the innate and adaptive immune responses as well as the inflammatory responses of animals.
NF-κB-dependent Signaling Mechanism
The...
10.2K
Targeted Cancer Therapies02:57

Targeted Cancer Therapies

The targeted cancer therapies, also known as “molecular targeted therapies,” take advantage of the molecular and genetic differences between the cancer cells and the normal cells. It needs a thorough understanding of the cancer cells to develop drugs that can target specific molecular aspects that drive the growth, progression, and spread of cancer cells without affecting the growth and survival of other normal cells in the body.
There are several types of targeted therapies against...
9.1K