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

Abstract

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 KRAS 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 KRAS-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 KRAS downstream effectors MAPK3, MAP2K1, and CRAF in NSCLC, restoring the sensitivity to erlotinib in KRAS-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 KRAS-mutated NSCLC. Conclusions: Our findings support the biological preclinical rationale for using miR-16 in combination with erlotinib in the treatment of NSCLC with KRAS-activating mutations.

Keywords

• microRNAs
• tyrosine kinase inhibitors
• non-small cell lung cancer
• mitogen-activated protein kinases
• Kirsten RAS proto-oncogene