Abstract LB-348: Developing a personalized anti-metastatic therapy to treat KRAS, LKB1-mutant lung adenocarcinoma
Authors: Gilbert-Ross Melissa , Konen Jessica , Koo Junghui , Shupe John , Sica Gabriel L. , Chen Zhengjia , Robinson Brian S. , Behera Madhusmita , Rossi Michael R. , Smith Geoffrey H. , Hill Charles E. , Ramalingam Suresh M. , Fu Haian , Khuri Fadlo R. , Zhou Wei , Marcus Adam 
Published: July 2016

LKB1 is the 2rd most commonly mutated tumor suppressor gene in human lung adenocarcinoma, is commonly co-mutated with KRAS, and leads to more aggressive, treatment-resistant tumors in mouse models. The identification of druggable signaling molecules that result from specific alterations in LKB1 could result in a personalized clinical strategy to target this high-risk patient population. We have previously published that LKB1 acts to limit focal adhesion kinase (FAK) activity in human lung cancer cells to restrict cell adhesion and migration. Based on our prior published data we hypothesize that FAK pathway inhibition will suppress invasion and metastasis in LKB1-mutant tumors in vivo. To investigate our hypothesis, we have designed the first rolling-enrollment pre-clinical mouse trial to target invasion and metastasis using a small-molecule FAK inhibitor. To enroll mice with early-stage lung adenocarcinoma, we developed a novel lentiviral-Cre induced KrasG12D; Lkb1fl/fl genetically engineered mouse model (GEMM) (KLLLenti) that develops 100% adenocarcinomas, expresses a luciferase reporter gene, and has elevated levels of active FAK in late stage invasive tumors. Importantly, short-term treatment of KLLLenti mice with a pharmacologic FAK inhibitor potently suppresses the invasive progression of primary tumors. Moreover, long-term treatment results in improved progression-free survival, and delays metastatic spread to the lymph nodes. We further pursue mechanistic studies to investigate how LKB1-mutant tumor tissue gains a metastatic advantage in vivo, and using a combination of 3D tumor spheroid assays, and multiphoton microscopy, present results that LKB1-mutant tumors use a unique form of hybrid invasion that relies both on cell:cell and cell-matrix adhesion, and in doing so, are equipped to more efficiently invade into the collagen-dense microenvironment of the lung. We will also present data that similar molecular and cell biologic phenotypes can be found in a subset of KRAS, LKB1-mutant human clinical samples. Our studies suggest that when used early, FAK inhibitors may be a viable clinical strategy to prevent or delay metastasis in the KRAS, LKB1-mutant patient population, and begin to define alternate escape pathways by which this highly invasive cell population may escape first-line therapy.

Citation Format: Melissa Gilbert-Ross, Jessica Konen, Junghui Koo, John Shupe, Gabriel L. Sica, Zhengjia Chen, Brian S. Robinson, Madhusmita Behera, Michael R. Rossi, Geoffrey H. Smith, Charles E. Hill, Suresh M. Ramalingam, Haian Fu, Fadlo R. Khuri, Wei Zhou, Adam Marcus. Developing a personalized anti-metastatic therapy to treat KRAS, LKB1-mutant lung adenocarcinoma. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 107th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2016 Apr 16-20; New Orleans, LA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2016;76(14 Suppl):Abstract nr LB-348.