posted on 2023-05-01, 08:23authored byJessica Limberg, Caitlin E. Egan, Katherine D. Gray, Mandeep Singh, Zachary Loewenstein, Yanping Yang, Maria Cristina Riascos, Hala Al Asadi, Parima Safe, Steve El Eshaky, Heng Liang, Timothy M. Ullmann, Weibin Wang, Wei Li, Tuo Zhang, Jenny Xiang, Dessislava Stefanova, Moonsoo M. Jin, Rasa Zarnegar, Thomas J. Fahey, Irene M. Min
Supplementary Table 1. Gene expression changes in 8505C after vemurafenib treatment.Supplementary Table 2. Gene expression changes in WRO after vemurafenib treatment.Supplementary Table 3. Gene expression changes in 8505C -Vem-Res 1 relative to parental 8505C.Supplementary Table 4. Gene expression changes in WRO -Vem-Res 6 relative to parental WRO.Supplementary Table 5. Clinical features of thyroid tumors used in Fig. 5.
Funding
National Cancer Institute (NCI)
United States Department of Health and Human Services
A subset of thyroid cancers, recurrent differentiated thyroid cancers and anaplastic thyroid cancer (ATC), are difficult to treat by thyroidectomy and systemic therapy. A common mutation in thyroid cancer, BRAFV600E, has targetable treatment options; however, the results have been disappointing in thyroid cancers compared with BRAFV600E melanoma, as thyroid cancers quickly become resistant to BRAFV600E inhibitor (BRAFi). Here, we studied the molecular pathway that is induced in BRAFV600E thyroid cancer cells and patient-derived tumor samples in response to BRAFi, vemurafenib, using RNA-sequencing and molecular analysis. Both inducible response to BRAFi and acquired BRAFi resistance in BRAFV600E thyroid cancer cells showed significant activation of the JAK/STAT pathway. Functional analyses revealed that the combination of BRAFi and inhibitors of JAK/STAT pathway controlled BRAFV600E thyroid cancer cell growth. The Cancer Genome Atlas data analysis demonstrated that potent activation of the JAK/STAT signaling was associated with shorter recurrence rate in patients with differentiated thyroid cancer. Analysis of tumor RNA expression in patients with poorly differentiated thyroid cancer and ATC also support that enhanced activity of JAK/STAT signaling pathway is correlated with worse prognosis. Our study demonstrates that JAK/STAT pathway is activated as BRAFV600E thyroid cancer cells develop resistance to BRAFi and that this pathway is a potential target for anticancer activity and to overcome drug resistance that commonly develops to treatment with BRAFi in thyroid cancer.
Dual inhibition of BRAF and JAK/STAT signaling pathway is a potential therapeutic treatment for anticancer activity and to overcome drug resistance to BRAFi in thyroid cancer.