Abstract 4842: Overcoming EGFR and ERK-mediated resistance to enzalutamide in castration-resistant prostate cancer
Authors: Steele Thomas M. , Jathal Maitreyee K. , Siddiqui Salma , Qin Sisi , Tepper Clifford G. , White Ralph W. deVere , Kohli Manish , Wang Liewei , Gao Allen C. , Ghosh Paramita M. 
Published: August 2019

The present project was undertaken to determine whether the activation of the EGFR family (EGFR/ErbB2/ErbB3/ErbB4) and its downstream signaling effector ERK1/2 plays a role in enzalutamide resistance and whether treatment with ErbB or ERK inhibitors overcome this resistance. C4-2B (enzalutamide sensitive) and 22Rv1 (partially enzalutamide resistant) cell lines cultured for prolonged periods in enzalutamide, developed resistance to this drug (C4-2B/MDVR and 22Rv1/MDVR, respectively). Whole genome comparison of enza-resistant to parental lines demonstrated that the ErbB signaling network was significantly upregulated in the enza-resistant lines. Comparison of various enza-sensitive and resistant lines demonstrated a strong correlation between phosphorylation at EGFR(Y1068) and enza resistance. Inhibition of EGFR, but not that of ErbB2 or ErbB3 prevented cell viability. The EGFR inhibitors erlotinib and dacomitinib, but not the ErbB2 inhibitor lapatinib, suppressed viability in combination with enzalutamide. We hypothesized that enza-resistant tumors expressing higher levels of EGFR would be more responsive to erlotinib. To test this hypothesis, we compared the effects of erlotinib and enzalutamide, individually or in combination, in organelles from PDX tumors expressing high or low EGFR levels. Significantly, tumors expressing high EGFR, but not those expressing low EGFR, were responsive to the combination. Finally, we investigated the cause for greater efficacy with erlotinib compared to lapatinib in PCa. Comparison of the effects of different ligands revealed that while both lapatinib and erlotinib inhibited EGFR phosphorylation, only erlotinib but not lapatinib was able to inhibit EGF-induced ERK phosphorylation. This indicated an important role for ERK in the mediation of EGFR ligand induced enzalutamide resistance. Continuous culture of enza-sensitive C4 cells in enzalutamide resulted in the development of ERK phosphorylation in these PTEN-null cells that normally do not express phosphorylated ERK, and the newly ERK phosphorylated cells also were more susceptible to erlotinib as well. In support of a role for ERK in mediating the effects of EGFR activation in enza-resistant cells, inhibition of EGFR but not ErbB2 or ErbB3 inhibited ERK phosphorylation, and the ERK inhibitor ulitertinib inhibited viability of enza-resistant lines. We conclude that enzalutamide treatment causes an increase in EGFR ligands that result in the phosphorylation of EGFR at Y1068, which further resulted in phosphorylation of ERK. EGFR inhibitors that prevent ERK phosphorylation were effective in suppressing viability of enza-resistant CRPC cells, whereas ErbB2 inhibitors that did not affect ERK phosphorylation were unable to affect cell viability. These results demonstrate why certain ErbB inhibitors failed to affect enza-resistant CRPC tumors but provide encouragement for others.

Citation Format: Thomas M. Steele, Maitreyee K. Jathal, Salma Siddiqui, Sisi Qin, Clifford G. Tepper, Ralph W. deVere White, Manish Kohli, Liewei Wang, Allen C. Gao, Paramita M. Ghosh. Overcoming EGFR and ERK-mediated resistance to enzalutamide in castration-resistant prostate cancer [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2019; 2019 Mar 29-Apr 3; Atlanta, GA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2019;79(13 Suppl):Abstract nr 4842.