Abstract 3887: ATP-binding pocket substitutions as secondary or tertiary in-cis mutations are major on-target ripretinib resistance mechanisms in gastrointestinal stromal tumor
Authors: Mühlenberg Thomas , Falkenhorst Johanna , Schulz Tom , Fletcher Benjamin S. , Teuber Alina , Krzeciesa Dawid , Klooster Isabella , Lategahn Jonas , Ou Wen-Bin , Lundberg Meijun , von Mehren Margaret , Grunewald Susanne , Tüns Alicia I. , Brahmi Mehdi , Heinrich Michael C. , Serrano Cesar , Schildhaus Hans-Ulrich , Sievers Sonja , Treckmann Jürgen , Wilson Lydia , Raut Chandrajit P. , Marino-Enriquez Adrian , George Suzanne , Rauh Daniel , Fletcher Jonathan A. , Bauer Sebastian 
Published: April 2023

Introduction: Ripretinib (Rip) is a kinase inhibitor with broad preclinical activity against mutant KIT. Based on the INVICTUS trial, Rip was approved for patients with Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumors (GIST) after treatment with 3 or more kinase inhibitors. Most patients in this ≥4th-line setting progress on Rip within one year. Here, we characterized Rip-progressing GIST samples to identify resistance mechanisms.

Methods: Progressing lesions in 25 patients were analyzed by NGS after Rip failure. KIT mutations (muts) were recapitulated by gene editing. Activities of Rip, sunitinib (SU), and novel TKIs were characterized by cell viability assays and immunoblot. Mutagenesis experiments were performed using ENU. SU- and Rip-resistant cell lines were pooled and treated with various regimens, with clonal composition deconvoluted by cDNA-based amplicon sequencing.

Results: 19/25 Rip-progressing GISTs displayed muts in the ATP-binding pocket (ATP-BP; e13/14). Four of these had pre-existing muts in the activation loop (AL; e17/18), which were confirmed to be in-cis with the primary and ATP-BP muts (triple in cis; TIC). Mutagenesis screens using a double KIT-mutant GIST line (e11 + AL) as a starting point confirmed that TIC-muts are a predominant escape mechanism when treated with Rip. A GIST subline (T1-triple) with TIC-muts in e11, e18 (A829P), and e13 (V654A) was highly resistant to Rip (GR50 &gt; 2µM). Structural analyses of ATP-BP muts suggest steric interference and loss of van der Waals interactions that impede Rip binding and thereby confer Rip resistance. Another 3/25 Rip-progressing GISTs harbored pathogenic KIT muts in e9 only. A novel GIST cell line with primary KIT e9 mut (T1-e9) was 14-fold less sensitive to Rip than isogenic e11-driven cells (GR50 = 115 vs 8nM). Notably, adding a typical AL mut to T1-e9 (T1-e9-N822K) sensitized the cells to Rip (GR50 = 20nM). Immunoblots showed &gt;95% inhibition of phospho-KIT in AL-mutant cell lines at Rip 100nM, whereas inhibition was weaker in T1-e9 (77%) and T1-V654A (46%), and absent in T1-triple. A compound screen of FDA-approved kinase inhibitors identified Nintedanib (NIN) as the most active compound against T1-triple. Clonal outgrowth assays of mixed cultures revealed SU (93% inhibition), and a weekly switch between Rip and either SU (96%) or NIN (79%) as the most effective inhibitors of pooled cell growth.

Conclusions: KIT e9 primary muts and e13/14 (ATP-BP) secondary muts are enriched in post-progression biopsies following Rip treatment. KIT TIC-muts are novel frequent events driving GIST clinical progression and confer a high degree of resistance. Strategies to overcome resistance may include combinations or sequences of approved drugs, and novel drugs that more efficiently inhibit TIC-mutant KIT.

Citation Format: Thomas Mühlenberg, Johanna Falkenhorst, Tom Schulz, Benjamin S. Fletcher, Alina Teuber, Dawid Krzeciesa, Isabella Klooster, Jonas Lategahn, Wen-Bin Ou, Meijun Lundberg, Margaret von Mehren, Susanne Grunewald, Alicia I. Tüns, Mehdi Brahmi, Michael C. Heinrich, Cesar Serrano, Hans-Ulrich Schildhaus, Sonja Sievers, Jürgen Treckmann, Lydia Wilson, Chandrajit P. Raut, Adrian Marino-Enriquez, Suzanne George, Daniel Rauh, Jonathan A. Fletcher, Sebastian Bauer. ATP-binding pocket substitutions as secondary or tertiary in-cis mutations are major on-target ripretinib resistance mechanisms in gastrointestinal stromal tumor. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2023; Part 1 (Regular and Invited Abstracts); 2023 Apr 14-19; Orlando, FL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2023;83(7_Suppl):Abstract nr 3887.