The PI3K/mTOR inhibitor Gedatolisib eliminates dormant breast cancer cells in organotypic culture, but fails to prevent metastasis in preclinical settings.

TitleThe PI3K/mTOR inhibitor Gedatolisib eliminates dormant breast cancer cells in organotypic culture, but fails to prevent metastasis in preclinical settings.
Publication TypeJournal Article
Year of Publication2022
AuthorsShor RE, Dai J, Lee S-Y, Pisarsky L, Matei I, Lucotti S, Lyden D, Bissell MJ, Ghajar CM
JournalMol Oncol
Volume16
Issue1
Pagination130-147
Date Published2022 Jan
ISSN1878-0261
KeywordsAnimals, Breast Neoplasms, Female, Humans, Integrins, Mice, Morpholines, Phosphatidylinositol 3-Kinases, Phosphoinositide-3 Kinase Inhibitors, TOR Serine-Threonine Kinases, Triazines, Tumor Microenvironment
Abstract

Dormant, disseminated tumor cells (DTCs) are thought to be the source of breast cancer metastases several years or even decades after initial treatment. To date, a selective therapy that leads to their elimination has not been discovered. While dormant DTCs resist chemotherapy, evidence suggests that this resistance is driven not by their lack of proliferation, but by their engagement of the surrounding microenvironment, via integrin-β1-mediated interactions. Because integrin-β1-targeted agents have not been translated readily to the clinic, signaling nodes downstream of integrin-β1 could serve as attractive therapeutic targets in order to sensitize dormant DTCs to therapy. By probing a number of kinases downstream of integrin-β1, we determined that PI3K inhibition with either a tool compounds or a compound (PF-05212384; aka Gedatolisib) in clinical trials robustly sensitizes quiescent breast tumor cells seeded in organotypic bone marrow cultures to chemotherapy. These results motivated the preclinical study of whether Gedatolisib-with or without genotoxic therapy-would reduce DTC burden and prevent metastases. Despite promising results in organotypic culture, Gedatolisib failed to reduce DTC burden or delay, reduce or prevent metastasis in murine models of either triple-negative or estrogen receptor-positive breast cancer dissemination and metastasis. This result held true whether analyzing Gedatolisib on its own (vs. vehicle-treated animals) or in combination with dose-dense doxorubicin and cyclophosphamide (vs. animals treated only with dose-dense chemotherapies). These data suggest that PI3K is not the node downstream of integrin-β1 that confers chemotherapeutic resistance to DTCs. More broadly, they cast doubt on the strategy to target PI3K in order to eliminate DTCs and prevent breast cancer metastasis.

DOI10.1002/1878-0261.13031
Alternate JournalMol Oncol
PubMed ID34058066
PubMed Central IDPMC8732345
Grant ListP30 CA015704 / CA / NCI NIH HHS / United States
R01 CA064786 / CA / NCI NIH HHS / United States
R01 CA249528 / CA / NCI NIH HHS / United States