Dr. Lo established his independent research program in July of 2008, focusing on melanoma pathogenesis and targeted therapy with support from the UCLA Department of Medicine/Dermatology and the Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center. Metastatic cutaneous melanoma is an aggressive malignancy, which lacks effective treatment but harbors a common and druggable target, the V600EB-RAF mutant kinase. Early clinical experience with melanoma patients treated with a novel V600EB-RAF-targeting small molecule, PLX4032, is demonstrating unparalleled tumor response in pre-selected patients with V600EB-RAF-mutant tumors. However, dramatic responses to PLX4032 monotherapy are invariably followed by tumor escape and relapse. The proposed project aims to build a knowledge base for designing combinatorial therapies and tackling drug resistance. We are taking complementary pre-clinical genomic approaches (Aims 1 &2) in order to dissect the pattern of sensitivity and resistance in melanoma patients treated with PLX4032 (Aim 3).
First (Aim 1), we seek to identify melanoma kinases that, together withV600EB-RAF, buffer melanoma against growth arrest/death (i.e., co-dependent growth/survival genes). To construct such a cellular """"""""wiring diagram"""""""" sustaining the survival of V600EB-RAF-positive melanomas, we have established a robust and high-throughput siRNA-based functional screen to identify melanoma kinases whose knockdown sensitizes melanoma cells toV600EB-RAF inhibition.
Second (Aim 2), we are modeling PLX4032 resistance in vitro by generating V600EB-RAF-positive melanoma cell lines escaping chronic PLX4032 exposure. Comparing parental PLX4032-sensitive cell lines and their corresponding PLX4032-resistant sub-lines, we propose an integrated genomic approach to discover tumor escape mechanisms to V600EB-RAF targeted inhibition. We believe arming ourselves with knowledge derived from such approaches is critical for a systematic hypothesis-driven study (Aim 3) of precious, paired melanoma samples and cell lines from patients who relapse on PLX4032 in a biopsy-treat-relapse-biopsy protocol. PLX4032 will likely be the first in a series of drugs targeting activated, mutated molecules found specifically only in cancer. Our proposed work will likely provide a critical rational basis to understand the pattern of response/resistance to such therapeutic agents and to design combinatorial therapy to overcome resistance. The proposed comprehensive and objective approaches using melanoma as a model may also offer insights into V600EB-RAF-positive subsets of other malignancies such as colon and ovarian cancers. Furthermore, this grant will provide the applicant with crucial funding to compete for RO1 and other established investigator awards.

Public Health Relevance

Cutaneous melanoma ranks among the fastest rising human malignancies in annual incidence and is highly lethal when detected at advanced stages. Small molecule therapy targeting a common melanoma mutation, V600EB-RAF, is showing unprecedented promise but meets a formidable challenge common to all targeted therapy, cancer resistance and clinical relapse. By understanding the factors determining drug sensitivity and key mechanisms of acquired resistance, we can design better therapies to treat this deadly skin cancer.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Cancer Institute (NCI)
Type
Career Transition Award (K22)
Project #
5K22CA151638-03
Application #
8306224
Study Section
Subcommittee G - Education (NCI)
Program Officer
Jakowlew, Sonia B
Project Start
2010-08-19
Project End
2013-07-31
Budget Start
2012-08-01
Budget End
2013-07-31
Support Year
3
Fiscal Year
2012
Total Cost
$186,840
Indirect Cost
$13,840
Name
University of California Los Angeles
Department
Internal Medicine/Medicine
Type
Schools of Medicine
DUNS #
092530369
City
Los Angeles
State
CA
Country
United States
Zip Code
90095
Titz, Bjoern; Lomova, Anastasia; Le, Allison et al. (2016) JUN dependency in distinct early and late BRAF inhibition adaptation states of melanoma. Cell Discov 2:16028
Moriceau, Gatien; Hugo, Willy; Hong, Aayoung et al. (2015) Tunable-combinatorial mechanisms of acquired resistance limit the efficacy of BRAF/MEK cotargeting but result in melanoma drug addiction. Cancer Cell 27:240-56
Marusiak, Anna A; Edwards, Zoe C; Hugo, Willy et al. (2014) Mixed lineage kinases activate MEK independently of RAF to mediate resistance to RAF inhibitors. Nat Commun 5:3901
Shi, Hubing; Hugo, Willy; Kong, Xiangju et al. (2014) Acquired resistance and clonal evolution in melanoma during BRAF inhibitor therapy. Cancer Discov 4:80-93
Shi, Hubing; Hong, Aayoung; Kong, Xiangju et al. (2014) A novel AKT1 mutant amplifies an adaptive melanoma response to BRAF inhibition. Cancer Discov 4:69-79
Parmenter, Tiffany J; Kleinschmidt, Margarete; Kinross, Kathryn M et al. (2014) Response of BRAF-mutant melanoma to BRAF inhibition is mediated by a network of transcriptional regulators of glycolysis. Cancer Discov 4:423-33
Lo, Roger S (2012) Receptor tyrosine kinases in cancer escape from BRAF inhibitors. Cell Res 22:945-7
Shi, Hubing; Moriceau, Gatien; Kong, Xiangju et al. (2012) Melanoma whole-exome sequencing identifies (V600E)B-RAF amplification-mediated acquired B-RAF inhibitor resistance. Nat Commun 3:724
Paraiso, Kim H T; Haarberg, H Eirik; Wood, Elizabeth et al. (2012) The HSP90 inhibitor XL888 overcomes BRAF inhibitor resistance mediated through diverse mechanisms. Clin Cancer Res 18:2502-14
Lo, Roger S (2012) Combinatorial therapies to overcome B-RAF inhibitor resistance in melanomas. Pharmacogenomics 13:125-8

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