Oncogenic PI3K/AKT promotes the step-wise evolution of combination BRAF/MEK inhibitor resistance in melanoma.

ABSTRACT: Nearly all patients with BRAF-mutant melanoma will progress on BRAF inhibitor monotherapy and combination BRAF/MEK inhibitor therapy within the first year of therapy. In the vast majority of progressing melanomas, resistance occurs via the re-activation of MAPK signalling, commonly via alterations in BRAF, NRAS and MEK1/2. A small proportion of resistant melanomas rely on the activation of the compensatory PI3K/AKT signalling cascade, although activation of this pathway does not preclude patient responses to BRAF/MEK inhibition. We now show, that PI3K/AKT signalling via potent oncogenic PIK3CA and AKT3 mutants, is not sufficient to overcome proliferative arrest induced by BRAF/MEK inhibition, but rather enables the survival of a dormant population of MAPK-inhibited melanoma cells. The evol

SUBMITTER: Irvine M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6148266 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature