1. Exploiting the Therapeutic Interaction of WNT Pathway Activation and Asparaginase for Colorectal Cancer Therapy
- Author
-
Lukas E. Dow, Kimmie Ng, Emma M Schatoff, Chen Yuan, Laura Hinze, James Degar, Sabine Schreek, Martin Stanulla, Teng Han, Alejandro Gutierrez, Florence F. Wagner, Marios Giannakis, Salmaan Karim, Ewa Sicinska, Roxane Labrosse, Joshua R. Sacher, and Connor McGuckin
- Subjects
0301 basic medicine ,Asparaginase ,Colorectal cancer ,Protein degradation ,03 medical and health sciences ,chemistry.chemical_compound ,0302 clinical medicine ,Cell Line, Tumor ,medicine ,Humans ,Progenitor cell ,Wnt Signaling Pathway ,Sensitization ,business.industry ,Wnt signaling pathway ,medicine.disease ,Leukemia ,030104 developmental biology ,medicine.anatomical_structure ,Oncology ,chemistry ,030220 oncology & carcinogenesis ,Cancer research ,business ,Colorectal Neoplasms ,Function (biology) - Abstract
Colorectal cancer is driven by mutations that activate canonical WNT/β-catenin signaling, but inhibiting WNT has significant on-target toxicity, and there are no approved therapies targeting dominant oncogenic drivers. We recently found that activating a β-catenin–independent branch of WNT signaling that inhibits GSK3-dependent protein degradation induces asparaginase sensitivity in drug-resistant leukemias. To test predictions from our model, we turned to colorectal cancer because these cancers can have WNT-activating mutations that function either upstream (i.e., R-spondin fusions) or downstream (APC or β-catenin mutations) of GSK3, thus allowing WNT/β-catenin and WNT-induced asparaginase sensitivity to be unlinked genetically. We found that asparaginase had little efficacy in APC or β-catenin–mutant colorectal cancer, but was profoundly toxic in the setting of R-spondin fusions. Pharmacologic GSK3α inhibition was sufficient for asparaginase sensitization in APC or β-catenin–mutant colorectal cancer, but not in normal intestinal progenitors. Our findings demonstrate that WNT-induced therapeutic vulnerabilities can be exploited for colorectal cancer therapy. Significance: Solid tumors are thought to be asparaginase-resistant via de novo asparagine synthesis. In leukemia, GSK3α-dependent protein degradation, a catabolic amino acid source, mediates asparaginase resistance. We found that asparaginase is profoundly toxic to colorectal cancers with WNT-activating mutations that inhibit GSK3. Aberrant WNT activation can provide a therapeutic vulnerability in colorectal cancer. See related commentary by Davidsen and Sullivan, p. 1632. This article is highlighted in the In This Issue feature, p. 1611
- Published
- 2019