Abstract B13: Novel treatment strategy for pancreatic cancer by targeting the ‘undruggable’ Ras oncoprotein
Authors: Kano Yoshihito , Bunda Severa , Yeh Jen Jen , Zhang Zhong-Yin , Ohh Michael 
Published: December 2016

Background and Aims: Mutations in RAS and various other components of the Ras signaling pathways are among the most common genetic alterations in human cancers, including up to 25% of lung cancers and over 90% of pancreatic cancers. Ras function as ‘molecular switches’ in a number of signaling pathways that regulate vital cellular functions. Over the past few decades, it has become clear that the activity or the oncogenic potential of Ras is dependent on the non-receptor tyrosine kinase Src to regulate essential cellular pathways for proliferation, differentiation and survival of eukaryotic cells. Recently, we showed that Src binds to and phosphorylates Ras on a conserved tyrosine residue at position 32 within the switch I region to promote Ras GTPase activity. We then identified Shp2 as the critical tyrosine phosphatase that is responsible for the dephosphorylation and activation of Ras. However, it is unknown whether pharmacologic manipulation of Shp2 activity would suppress the growth of Ras-driven pancreatic cancer (PDACs), a highly aggressive disease currently without effective treatment options or cure.

Methods: We generated the available Ras, Src, and SHP2 reagents (wild-type, oncogenic, truncation, dominant-negative, catalytically active or inactive, mutants) to determine the structure/function relationship between Ras, Src, and SHP2. The interaction was assessed by immunoprecipitation and western blotting. We utilized several PDAC cell lines and patient-derived xenografts cell lines (PDX-C). The cell growth was evaluated by Alarmar Blue assay.

Results: We identified SHP2 as the ubiquitously expressed tyrosine phosphatase that preferentially binds to and dephosphorylates Ras to increase its association with Raf and activate downstream proliferative Ras/ERK/MAPK signaling. In comparison to K-Ras WT pancreatic cancer cells, the level of phospho-Shp2 was observed to be higher in K-Ras mutated cell lines in both absence and presence of growth factors. Pharmacologic inhibition of Shp2 using a specific cell-permeable Shp2 inhibitor decreased the level of phosphorylation of Shp2 as well as downstream signaling such as pAKT and pERK especially in the presence of growth factor. Notably, we show that treatment with this inhibitor suppressed the cell proliferation in both K-Ras WT and mutated pancreatic cancer cells as well as PDX-C in a caspase-dependent manner.

Conclusion: Our results identify SHP2 as a direct activator of Ras and potential therapeutic target for pancreatic cancer driven by a previously ‘undruggable’ oncogenic or hyperactive Ras.

Citation Format: Yoshihito Kano, Severa Bunda, Jen Jen Yeh, Zhong-Yin Zhang, Michael Ohh.{Authors}. Novel treatment strategy for pancreatic cancer by targeting the ‘undruggable’ Ras oncoprotein. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR Special Conference on Pancreatic Cancer: Advances in Science and Clinical Care; 2016 May 12-15; Orlando, FL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2016;76(24 Suppl):Abstract nr B13.