Targeted gene expression profile reveals CDK4 as therapeutic target for selected patients with adrenocortical carcinoma

Raimunde Liang, Isabel Weigand, Juliane Lippert, Stefan Kircher, Barbara Altieri, Sonja Steinhauer, Constanze Hantel, Simone Rost, Andreas Rosenwald, Matthias Kroiss, Martin Fassnacht, Silviu Sbiera, Cristina Ronchi

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Abstract

Adrenocortical carcinomas (ACC) are aggressive tumors with a heterogeneous prognosis and limited therapeutic options for advanced stages. This study aims to identify novel drug targets for a personalized treatment in ACC. RNA was isolated from 40 formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded ACC samples. We evaluated gene expression of 84 known cancer drug targets by reverse transcriptase quantitative real time-PCR and calculated fold change using 5 normal adrenal glands as reference (overexpression by fold change >2.0). The most promising candidate cyclin-dependent kinase 4 (CDK4) was investigated at protein level in 104 ACC samples and tested by in vitro experiments in two ACC cell lines (NCI-H295R and MUC1). The most frequently overexpressed genes were TOP2A (100% of cases, median fold change = 16.5), IGF2 (95%, fold change = 52.9), CDK1 (80%, fold change = 6.7), CDK4 (62%, fold change = 2.6), PLK4 (60%, fold change = 2.8), and PLK1 (52%, fold change = 2.3). CDK4 was chosen for functional validation, as it is actionable by approved CDK4/6-inhibitors (e.g., palbociclib). Nuclear immunostaining of CDK4 significantly correlated with mRNA expression (R = 0.52, P < 0.005). We exposed both NCI-H295R and MUC1 cell lines to palbociclib and found a concentration- and time-dependent reduction of cell viability, which was more pronounced in the NCI-H295R cells in line with higher CDK4 expression. Furthermore, we tested palbociclib in combination with insulin-like growth factor 1/insulin receptor inhibitor linsitinib showing an additive effect. In conclusion, we demonstrate that RNA profiling is useful to discover potential drug targets and that CDK4/6 inhibitors are promising candidates for treatment of selected patients with ACC.
Original languageEnglish
Article number219
Number of pages13
JournalFrontiers in Endocrinology
Volume11
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 16 Apr 2020

Keywords

  • CDK4
  • IGF1R
  • adrenocortical tumor
  • palbociclib
  • targeted therapy

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