Background:Although a high level of thymidylate synthase (TS) expression in malignant tumours has been suggested to be related to a reduced sensitivity to the antifolate drug pemetrexed, no direct evidence for such an association has been demonstrated in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). We have now investigated the effect of TS overexpression on pemetrexed sensitivity in NSCLC cells.Methods:We established NSCLC cell lines that stably overexpress TS and examined the effects of such overexpression on the cytotoxicity of pemetrexed both in vitro and in xenograft models. We further examined the relation between TS expression in tumour specimens from NSCLC patients and the tumour response to pemetrexed by immunohistochemical analysis.Results:The sensitivity of NSCLC cells overexpressing TS to the antiproliferative effect of pemetrexed was markedly reduced compared with that of control cells. The inhibition of DNA synthesis and induction of apoptosis by pemetrexed were also greatly attenuated by forced expression of TS. Furthermore, tumours formed by TS-overexpressing NSCLC cells in nude mice were resistant to the growth-inhibitory effect of pemetrexed observed with control tumours. Finally, the level of TS expression in tumours of non-responding patients was significantly higher than that in those of responders, suggestive of an inverse correlation between TS expression and tumour response to pemetrexed.Conclusion:A high level of TS expression confers a reduced sensitivity to pemetrexed. TS expression is thus a potential predictive marker for response to pemetrexed-based chemotherapy in NSCLC patients.

Purpose: Anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKI) such as crizotinib show marked efficacy in patients with non-small cell lung cancer positive for the echinoderm microtubuleassociated protein-like 4 (EML4)-ALK fusion protein. However, acquired resistance to these agents has already been described in treated patients, and the mechanisms of such resistance remain largely unknown.Experimental Design: We established lines of EML4-ALK-positive H3122 lung cancer cells that are resistant to the ALK inhibitor TAE684 (H3122/TR cells) and investigated their resistance mechanism with the use of immunoblot analysis, ELISA, reverse transcription and real-time PCR analysis, and an annexin V binding assay. We isolated EML4-ALK-positive lung cancer cells (K-3) from a patient who developed resistance to crizotinib and investigated their characteristics.Results: The expression of EML4-ALK was reduced at the transcriptional level, whereas phosphorylation of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), HER2, and HER3 was upregulated, in H3122/TR cells compared with those in H3122 cells. This activation of HER family proteins was accompanied by increased secretion of EGF. Treatment with an EGFR-TKI induced apoptosis in H3122/TR cells, but not in H3122 cells. The TAE684-induced inhibition of extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) and STAT3 phosphorylation observed in parental cells was prevented by exposure of these cells to exogenous EGF, resulting in a reduced sensitivity of cell growth to TAE684. K-3 cells also manifested HER family activation accompanied by increased EGF secretion.Conclusions: EGF-mediated activation of HER family signaling is associated with ALK-TKI resistance in lung cancer positive for EML4-ALK.

Purpose Irreversible EGFR-tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) are thought to be one strategy to overcome EGFR-TKI resistance induced by T790M gate-keeper mutations in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), yet they display limited clinical efficacy. We hypothesized that additional resistance mechanisms that cooperate with T790M could be identified by profiling tyrosine phosphorylation in NSCLC cells with acquired resistance to reversible EGFR-TKI and harboring T790M. Experimental Design We profiled PC9 cells with TKI-sensitive EGFR mutation and paired EGFR-TKI-resistant PC9GR (gefitinib-resistant) cells with T790M using immunoaffinity purification of tyrosine-phosphorylated peptides and mass-spectrometry-based identification/quantification. Profiles of erlotinib perturbations were examined. Results We observed a large fraction of the tyrosine phosphoproteome was more abundant in PC9- and PC9GR-erlotinib treated cells, including phosphopeptides corresponding to MET, IGF, and AXL signaling. Activation of these receptor tyrosine kinases by growth factors could protect PC9GR cells against the irreversible EGFR-TKI afatinib. We identified a Src-family kinase (SFK) network as EGFR-independent and confirmed that neither erlotinib nor afatinib affected Src phosphorylation at the activation site. The SFK-inhibitor dasatinib plus afatinib abolished Src phosphorylation and completely suppressed downstream phosphorylated Akt and Erk. Dasatinib further enhanced anti-tumor activity of afatinib or T790M-selective EGFR-TKI (WZ4006) in proliferation and apoptosis assays in multiple NSCLC cell lines with T790M mediated resistance. This translated into tumor regression in PC9GR xenograft studies with combined afatinib and dasatinib. Conclusions Our results identified both co-drivers of resistance along with T790M and support further studies of irreversible or T790M-selective EGFR inhibitors combined with dasatinib in NSCLC patients with acquired T790M.

Crizotinib shows a marked antitumor action in MET amplification-positive lung cancer cells but not in cells without MET amplification, including those with a MET mutation.