Signaling Switching from Hedgehog-GLI to MAPK Signaling Potentially Serves as a Compensatory Mechanism in Melanoma Cell Lines Resistant to GANT-61

• Published in: Biomedicines Vol. 11; no. 5; p. 1353
• Main Authors: Piteša, Nikolina, Kurtović, Matea, Bartoniček, Nenad, Gkotsi, Danai S, Čonkaš, Josipa, Petrić, Tina, Musani, Vesna, Ozretić, Petar, Riobo-Del Galdo, Natalia A, Sabol, Maja
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 03-05-2023; MDPI
• Subjects: Antibodies; Antimitotic agents; Antineoplastic agents; Cancer; Care and treatment; Cell cycle; Cell growth; Cell migration; Chemoresistance; Cilia; GANT-61; Hedgehog protein; HH-GLI pathway; Kinases; Laboratories; MAP kinase; MAPK signaling; Melanoma; Metastases; Mutation; Proteins; Raf protein; RAS/RAF/ERK pathway; Skin cancer; Transcription factors; Wound healing; England; United Kingdom > UK; United States > US; Germany; Croatia; chemoresistance; primary cilia; RAS/RAF/ERK pathway; melanoma; HH-GLI pathway; GANT-61; MAPK signaling
• ISSN: 2227-9059; 2227-9059
• DOI: 10.3390/biomedicines11051353

Melanoma represents the deadliest skin cancer due to its cell plasticity which results in high metastatic potential and chemoresistance. Melanomas frequently develop resistance to targeted therapy; therefore, new combination therapy strategies are required. Non-canonical signaling interactions between HH-GLI and RAS/RAF/ERK signaling were identified as one of the drivers of melanoma pathogenesis. Therefore, we decided to investigate the importance of these non-canonical interactions in chemoresistance, and examine the potential for HH-GLI and RAS/RAF/ERK combined therapy.
We established two melanoma cell lines resistant to the GLI inhibitor, GANT-61, and characterized their response to other HH-GLI and RAS/RAF/ERK inhibitors.
We successfully established two melanoma cell lines resistant to GANT-61. Both cell lines showed HH-GLI signaling downregulation and increased invasive cell properties like migration potential, colony forming capacity, and EMT. However, they differed in MAPK signaling activity, cell cycle regulation, and primary cilia formation, suggesting different potential mechanisms responsible for resistance occurrence.
Our study provides the first ever insights into cell lines resistant to GANT-61 and shows potential mechanisms connected to HH-GLI and MAPK signaling which may represent new hot spots for noncanonical signaling interactions.