Brigatinib, a newly discovered AXL inhibitor, suppresses AXL-mediated acquired resistance to osimertinib in EGFR-mutated non-small cell lung cancer

Rui Han; Cong-Hua Lu; Chen Hu; Yuan-Yao Dou; Jun Kang; Cai-Yu Lin; Di Wu; Wei-Ling Jiang; Guo-Qing Yin; Yong He

doi:10.1038/s41401-024-01237-4

Brigatinib, a newly discovered AXL inhibitor, suppresses AXL-mediated acquired resistance to osimertinib in EGFR-mutated non-small cell lung cancer

Acta Pharmacol Sin. 2024 Mar 4. doi: 10.1038/s41401-024-01237-4. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Rui Han^#¹, Cong-Hua Lu^#¹, Chen Hu^#¹, Yuan-Yao Dou², Jun Kang¹, Cai-Yu Lin¹, Di Wu¹, Wei-Ling Jiang¹, Guo-Qing Yin¹, Yong He³

Affiliations

¹ Department of Respiratory Disease, Daping Hospital, Army Medical University, Chongqing, 400042, China.
² Key Laboratory of Biorheological Science and Technology, Ministry of Education, College of Bioengineering, Chongqing University, Chongqing, 400044, China.
³ Department of Respiratory Disease, Daping Hospital, Army Medical University, Chongqing, 400042, China. heyong@tmmu.edu.cn.

^# Contributed equally.

PMID: 38438582
DOI: 10.1038/s41401-024-01237-4

Abstract

In addition to the classical resistance mechanisms, receptor tyrosine-protein kinase AXL is a main mechanism of resistance to third-generation epidermal growth factor receptor-tyrosine kinase inhibitor (EGFR-TKI) osimertinib in EGFR-mutated non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Developing an effective AXL inhibitor is important to sensitize osimertinib in clinical application. In this study we assessed the efficacy of brigatinib, a second-generation of anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK)-TKI, as a novel AXL inhibitor, in overcoming acquired resistance to osimertinib induced by AXL activation. We established an AXL-overexpression NSCLC cell line and conducted high-throughput screening of a small molecule chemical library containing 510 anti-tumor drugs. We found that brigatinib potently inhibited AXL expression, and that brigatinib (0.5 μM) significantly enhanced the anti-tumor efficacy of osimertinib (1 μM) in AXL-mediated osimertinib-resistant NSCLC cell lines in vitro. We demonstrated that brigatinib had a potential ability to bind AXL kinase protein and further inhibit its downstream pathways in NSCLC cell lines. Furthermore, we revealed that brigatinib might decrease AXL expression through increasing K48-linked ubiquitination of AXL and promoting AXL degradation in HCC827OR cells and PC-9OR cells. In AXL-high expression osimertinib-resistant PC-9OR and HCC827OR cells derived xenograft mouse models, administration of osimertinib (10 mg·kg^-1·d^-1) alone for 3 weeks had no effect, and administration of brigatinib (25 mg·kg^-1·d^-1) alone caused a minor inhibition on the tumor growth; whereas combination of osimertinib and brigatinib caused marked tumor shrinkages. We concluded that brigatinib may be a promising clinical strategy for enhancing osimertinib efficacy in AXL-mediated osimertinib-resistant NSCLC patients.

Keywords: AXL; acquired resistance; brigatinib; non-small cell lung cancer; osimertinib.