Novel CDK12/13 Inhibitors AU-15506 and AU-16770 Are Potent Anti-Cancer Agents in EGFR Mutant Lung Adenocarcinoma with and without Osimertinib Resistance

• Published in: Cancers Vol. 15; no. 8; p. 2263
• Main Authors: Maity, Tapan K, Kim, Eun Young, Cultraro, Constance M, Venugopalan, Abhilash, Khare, Leena, Poddutoori, Ramulu, Marappan, Sivapriya, Syed, Samiulla D, Telford, William G, Samajdar, Susanta, Ramachandra, Murali, Guha, Udayan
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 12-04-2023; MDPI
• Subjects: Adenocarcinoma; Antimitotic agents; Antineoplastic agents; Antitumor agents; Cancer therapies; Cell culture; Cell cycle; Cell growth; Cyclin-dependent kinases; DNA repair; Dosage and administration; Drug resistance; Drug therapy; Epidermal growth factor receptors; Kinases; Lung cancer; Lungs; Molecular modelling; Mutants; Mutation; Phosphorylation; Protein-tyrosine kinase; RNA polymerase; Tumors; Xenografts; United States; lung cancer; inhibitor; osimertinib; AU16770; CDK12; CDK13; EGFR; resistance; AU15506
• ISSN: 2072-6694; 2072-6694
• DOI: 10.3390/cancers15082263

Osimertinib is a third-generation epidermal growth factor receptor and tyrosine kinase inhibitor (EGFR-TKI) approved for the treatment of lung adenocarcinoma patients harboring EGFR mutations. However, acquired resistance to this targeted therapy is inevitable, leading to disease relapse within a few years. Therefore, understanding the molecular mechanisms of osimertinib resistance and identifying novel targets to overcome such resistance are unmet needs of cancer patients. Here, we investigated the efficacy of two novel CDK12/13 inhibitors, AU-15506 and AU-16770, in osimertinib-resistant EGFR mutant lung adenocarcinoma cells in culture and xenograft models in vivo. We demonstrate that these drugs, either alone or in combination with osimertinib, are potent inhibitors of osimertinib-resistant as well as -sensitive lung adenocarcinoma cells in culture. Interestingly, only the CDK12/13 inhibitor in combination with osimertinib, although not as monotherapy, suppresses the growth of resistant tumors in xenograft models in vivo. Taken together, the results of this study suggest that inhibition of CDK12/13 in combination with osimertinib has the potential to overcome osimertinib resistance in EGFR mutant lung adenocarcinoma patients.