MicroRNA-16 Restores Sensitivity to Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitors and Outperforms MEK Inhibitors in <i>KRAS</i>-Mutated Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer

oleh: Francesca Fanini, Erika Bandini, Meropi Plousiou, Silvia Carloni, Petra Wise, Paolo Neviani, Mariam Murtadha, Flavia Foca, Francesco Fabbri, Ivan Vannini, Muller Fabbri

Format: Article
Diterbitkan: MDPI AG 2021-12-01

Deskripsi

Background: Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is the leading cause of cancer death worldwide. Chemotherapy, the treatment of choice in non-operable cases, achieves a dismal success rate, raising the need for new therapeutic options. In about 25% of NSCLC, the activating mutations of the <i>KRAS</i> oncogene define a subclass that cannot benefit from tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs). The tumor suppressor miR-16 is downregulated in many human cancers, including NSCLC. The main objectives of this study were to evaluate miR-16 treatment to restore the TKI sensitivity and compare its efficacy to MEK inhibitors in <i>KRAS</i>-mutated NSCLC. Methods: We performed in vitro and in vivo studies to investigate whether miR-16 could be exploited to overcome TKI resistance in KRAS-mutated NSCLC. We had three goals: first, to identify the KRAS downstream effectors targeted by mir-16, second, to study the effects of miR-16 restoration on TKI resistance in KRAS-mutated NSCLC both in vitro and in vivo, and finally, to compare miR-16 and the MEK inhibitor selumetinib in reducing KRAS-mutated NSCLC growth in vitro and in vivo. Results: We demonstrated that miR-16 directly targets the three <i>KRAS</i> downstream effectors <i>MAPK3</i>, <i>MAP2K1</i>, and <i>CRAF</i> in NSCLC, restoring the sensitivity to erlotinib in <i>KRAS</i>-mutated NSCLC both in vitro and in vivo. We also provided evidence that the miR-16–erlotinib regimen is more effective than the selumetinib–erlotinib combination in <i>KRAS</i>-mutated NSCLC. Conclusions: Our findings support the biological preclinical rationale for using miR-16 in combination with erlotinib in the treatment of NSCLC with <i>KRAS</i>-activating mutations.