TEAD Inhibitors Sensitize KRAS^G12C Inhibitors via Dual Cell Cycle Arrest in KRAS^G12C-Mutant NSCLC

• Main Authors: Salvina Laura Tammaccaro (Author), Philippe Prigent (Author), Jean-Christophe Le Bail (Author), Odette Dos-Santos (Author), Laurent Dassencourt (Author), Myriam Eskandar (Author), Armelle Buzy (Author), Olivier Venier (Author), Jean-Claude Guillemot (Author), Yaligara Veeranagouda (Author), Michel Didier (Author), Emmanuel Spanakis (Author), Tokuwa Kanno (Author), Matteo Cesaroni (Author), Stephane Mathieu (Author), Luc Canard (Author), Alhassan Casse (Author), Fanny Windenberger (Author), Loreley Calvet (Author), Laurence Noblet (Author), Sukhvinder Sidhu (Author), Laurent Debussche (Author), Jurgen Moll (Author), Iris Valtingojer (Author)
• Format: Book
• Published: MDPI AG, 2023-04-01T00:00:00Z.
• Subjects: article
• Online Access: Connect to this object online.
• Notes: 10.3390/ph16040553; 1424-8247
• Keywords: YAP1-TEAD; resistance; KRAS^G12C; NSCLC; cell cycle arrest; Medicine; R; Pharmacy and materia medica; RS1-441
• Source: Pharmaceuticals, Vol 16, Iss 4, p 553 (2023)

KRAS^G12C is one of the most common mutations detected in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients, and it is a marker of poor prognosis. The first FDA-approved KRAS^G12C inhibitors, sotorasib and adagrasib, have been an enormous breakthrough for patients with KRAS^G12C mutant NSCLC; however, resistance to therapy is emerging. The transcriptional coactivators YAP1/TAZ and the family of transcription factors TEAD1-4 are the downstream effectors of the Hippo pathway and regulate essential cellular processes such as cell proliferation and cell survival. YAP1/TAZ-TEAD activity has further been implicated as a mechanism of resistance to targeted therapies. Here, we investigate the effect of combining TEAD inhibitors with KRAS^G12C inhibitors in KRAS^G12C mutant NSCLC tumor models. We show that TEAD inhibitors, while being inactive as single agents in KRAS^G12C-driven NSCLC cells, enhance KRAS^G12C inhibitor-mediated anti-tumor efficacy in vitro and in vivo. Mechanistically, the dual inhibition of KRAS^G12C and TEAD results in the downregulation of MYC and E2F signatures and in the alteration of the G2/M checkpoint, converging in an increase in G1 and a decrease in G2/M cell cycle phases. Our data suggest that the co-inhibition of KRAS^G12C and TEAD leads to a specific dual cell cycle arrest in KRAS^G12C NSCLC cells.