Silibinin Overcomes EMT-Driven Lung Cancer Resistance to New-Generation ALK Inhibitors

Epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) may drive the escape of ALK-rearranged non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) tumors from ALK-tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs). We investigated whether first-generation ALK-TKI therapy-induced EMT promotes cross-resistance to new-generation ALK-TKIs and whethe...

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Detalhes bibliográficos
Autores: Verdura S, Encinar JA, Teixidor E, Segura-Carretero A, Micol V, Cuyàs E, Bosch-Barrera J, Menendez JA
Formato: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2022
País:España
Recursos:Fundación para el Fomento de la Investigación Sanitaria y Biomédica de la Comunitat Valenciana (FISABIO)
Repositorio:r-FISABIO. Repositorio Institucional de Producción Científica
OAI Identifier:oai:fisabio.fundanetsuite.com:p14800
Acesso em linha:https://fisabio.portalinvestigacion.com/publicaciones/14800
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palavra-chave:ALK
crizotinib
brigatinib
lorlatinib
silibinin
EMT
TGF beta
lung cancer
Descrição
Resumo:Epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) may drive the escape of ALK-rearranged non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) tumors from ALK-tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs). We investigated whether first-generation ALK-TKI therapy-induced EMT promotes cross-resistance to new-generation ALK-TKIs and whether this could be circumvented by the flavonolignan silibinin, an EMT inhibitor. ALK-rearranged NSCLC cells acquiring a bona fide EMT phenotype upon chronic exposure to the first-generation ALK-TKI crizotinib exhibited increased resistance to second-generation brigatinib and were fully refractory to third-generation lorlatinib. Such cross-resistance to new-generation ALK-TKIs, which was partially recapitulated upon chronic TGF(3 stimulation, was less pronounced in ALK-rearranged NSCLC cells solely acquiring a partial/hybrid E/M transition state. Silibinin overcame EMT-induced resistance to brigatinib and lorlatinib and restored their efficacy involving the transforming growth factor-beta (TGF(3)/SMAD signaling pathway. Silibinin deactivated TGF(3-regulated SMAD2/3 phosphorylation and suppressed the transcriptional acti-vation of genes under the control of SMAD binding elements. Computational modeling studies and kinase binding assays predicted a targeted inhibitory binding of silibinin to the ATP-binding pocket of TGF(3 type-1 receptor 1 (TGFBR1) and TGFBR2 but solely at the two-digit micromolar range. A secretome profiling confirmed the ability of silibinin to normalize the augmented release of TGF beta into the extracellular fluid of ALK-TKIs-resistant NSCLC cells and reduce constitutive and inducible SMAD2/3 phosphorylation occurring in the presence of ALK-TKIs. In summary, the ab initio plasticity along the EMT spectrum may explain the propensity of ALK-rearranged NSCLC cells to acquire resistance to new-generation ALK-TKIs, a phenomenon that could be abrogated by the silibinin-driven attenuation of the TGF beta/SMAD signaling axis in mesenchymal ALK-rearranged NSCLC cells.