Cells Lacking the RB1 Tumor Suppressor Gene Are Hyperdependent on Aurora B Kinase for Survival.
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Date
2019-02-01ICR Author
Author
Oser, MG
Fonseca, R
Chakraborty, AA
Brough, R
Spektor, A
Jennings, RB
Flaifel, A
Novak, JS
Gulati, A
Buss, E
Younger, ST
McBrayer, SK
Cowley, GS
Bonal, DM
Nguyen, Q-D
Brulle-Soumare, L
Taylor, P
Cairo, S
Ryan, CJ
Pease, EJ
Maratea, K
Travers, J
Root, DE
Signoretti, S
Pellman, D
Ashton, S
Lord, CJ
Barry, ST
Kaelin, WG
Type
Journal Article
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
Small cell lung cancer (SCLC) accounts for 15% of lung cancers and is almost always linked to inactivating RB1 and TP53 mutations. SCLC frequently responds, albeit briefly, to chemotherapy. The canonical function of the RB1 gene product RB1 is to repress the E2F transcription factor family. RB1 also plays both E2F-dependent and E2F-independent mitotic roles. We performed a synthetic lethal CRISPR/Cas9 screen in an RB1 -/- SCLC cell line that conditionally expresses RB1 to identify dependencies that are caused by RB1 loss and discovered that RB1 -/- SCLC cell lines are hyperdependent on multiple proteins linked to chromosomal segregation, including Aurora B kinase. Moreover, we show that an Aurora B kinase inhibitor is efficacious in multiple preclinical SCLC models at concentrations that are well tolerated in mice. These results suggest that RB1 loss is a predictive biomarker for sensitivity to Aurora B kinase inhibitors in SCLC and perhaps other RB1 -/- cancers. SIGNIFICANCE: SCLC is rarely associated with actionable protooncogene mutations. We did a CRISPR/Cas9-based screen that showed that RB1 -/- SCLC are hyperdependent on AURKB, likely because both genes control mitotic fidelity, and confirmed that Aurora B kinase inhibitors are efficacious against RB1 -/- SCLC tumors in mice at nontoxic doses.See related commentary by Dick and Li, p. 169.This article is highlighted in the In This Issue feature, p. 151.
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Subject
Tumor Cells, Cultured
Animals
Humans
Mice
Mice, Nude
Lung Neoplasms
Ubiquitin-Protein Ligases
Antineoplastic Agents
Xenograft Model Antitumor Assays
Signal Transduction
Chromosome Segregation
Apoptosis
Cell Proliferation
Drug Resistance, Neoplasm
Mutation
Genes, Tumor Suppressor
Female
Small Cell Lung Carcinoma
Retinoblastoma Binding Proteins
Aurora Kinase B
CRISPR-Cas Systems
Research team
Gene Function
Language
eng
Date accepted
2018-10-05
License start date
2019-02
Citation
Cancer discovery, 2019, 9 (2), pp. 230 - 247
Publisher
AMER ASSOC CANCER RESEARCH