Discovery Of A Kinome Signature Predicting Sensitivity And Resistance To Raf-Mapk Pathway Inhibitors In Melanoma

Introduction RAF-MAPK pathway inhibition with BRAF inhibitors or the combination of BRAF and MEK inhibitors has become the mainstay of therapy of metastatic melanoma harboring BRAF V600 mutations with a response rate as high as 50-75 %. A minority of patients present with primary resistance while all patients develop secondary resistance. We explored a reversed translational approach using a novel multiplex kinase assay to first identify individuals not responding to therapy using baseline biopsy samples and second to understand the mechanism of resistance using patient-derived cell lines. Method Pre-dose tissues from 4 non-responders and 3 responders to vemurafenib monotherapy, all harboring the V600E mutation, were profiled for Serine-Threonine Kinase (STK) activities on a PamChip® peptide microarray in the presence and absence of dabrafenib. For molecular studies three melanoma cell lines, all with BRAF V600E mutations, were made resistant to vemurafenib. Protein Tyrosine Kinase (PTK) and STK activities in lysates of sensitive or resistant cells were measured +/- dabrafenib, trametinib or both. Lysates were blotted against a selected panel of (phospho)proteins. Results In tissue lysates, concentration-dependent ex vivo inhibition with dabrafenib was stronger in the patients that were clinical responders than in non-responders. This difference in inhibition of STK activity by dabrafenib was confirmed in the cell lines that were made resistant against vemurafenib. IC50s for the sensitive cell lines were below 0.5 µM and varied from 10-21 µM for cell lines with acquired resistance. PTK activity was increased in resistant cell lines. STK activity was lower, but large differences exist among the cell lines. Common features of resistance were increased activity of receptor tyrosine kinases, Src family kinases and AKT signaling. These results were confirmed by Western blot analysis. Dabrafenib (10 µM) caused inhibition of STK activity while trametinib (10 µM) gave some activation. Dabrafenib (0.5 µM) gave strong inhibition of PTK activity, both in tissue and cell lines. Trametinib had hardly any inhibitory effect. Interestingly, the combination of dabrafenib and trametinib had an antagonistic effect on the STK activity and a synergistic effect on PTK activity, resulting in a stronger inhibition of kinase activity. Conclusion Resistance of tumors and cell lines to vemurafenib can affect kinase activity profiles as detected pre-dose using a multiplex kinase assay. Dabrafenib inhibition of PTK and STK activity is stronger in sensitive cell lines. The overall activation of kinases in a lysate upon MEK inhibition suggests MEK as suppressor of kinase activity. Resistance to MAPK pathway inhibitors could be linked to an increase in tyrosine kinase activity and AKT pathway activity. Biomarkers are needed to identify patients in need of combined MAPK pathway inhibition. Citation Format: Riet Hilhorst, Mohammed Krayem, Adrienne van den Berg, Fabrice Journe, Liesbeth Hovestad-Bijl, Tim van den Hooven, Rik de Wijn, Philippe Aftimos, Ghanem Ghanem, Rob Ruijtenbeek. Discovery of a kinome signature predicting sensitivity and resistance to RAF-MAPK pathway inhibitors in melanoma [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2017; 2017 Apr 1-5; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2017;77(13 Suppl):Abstract nr 3163. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2017-3163