Acquired Resistance to KRAS (G12C) Inhibition in Cancer
Recommended Citation
Awad MM, Liu S, Rybkin, II, Arbour KC, Dilly J, Zhu VW, Johnson ML, Heist RS, Patil T, Riely GJ, Jacobson JO, Yang X, Persky NS, Root DE, Lowder KE, Feng H, Zhang SS, Haigis KM, Hung YP, Sholl LM, Wolpin BM, Wiese J, Christiansen J, Lee J, Schrock AB, Lim LP, Garg K, Li M, Engstrom LD, Waters L, Lawson JD, Olson P, Lito P, Ou SI, Christensen JG, Jänne PA, and Aguirre AJ. Acquired Resistance to KRAS(G12C) Inhibition in Cancer. N Engl J Med 2021; 384(25):2382-2393.
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
6-24-2021
Publication Title
The New England journal of medicine
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Clinical trials of the KRAS inhibitors adagrasib and sotorasib have shown promising activity in cancers harboring KRAS glycine-to-cysteine amino acid substitutions at codon 12 (KRAS(G12C)). The mechanisms of acquired resistance to these therapies are currently unknown.
METHODS: Among patients with KRAS(G12C) -mutant cancers treated with adagrasib monotherapy, we performed genomic and histologic analyses that compared pretreatment samples with those obtained after the development of resistance. Cell-based experiments were conducted to study mutations that confer resistance to KRAS(G12C) inhibitors.
RESULTS: A total of 38 patients were included in this study: 27 with non-small-cell lung cancer, 10 with colorectal cancer, and 1 with appendiceal cancer. Putative mechanisms of resistance to adagrasib were detected in 17 patients (45% of the cohort), of whom 7 (18% of the cohort) had multiple coincident mechanisms. Acquired KRAS alterations included G12D/R/V/W, G13D, Q61H, R68S, H95D/Q/R, Y96C, and high-level amplification of the KRAS(G12C) allele. Acquired bypass mechanisms of resistance included MET amplification; activating mutations in NRAS, BRAF, MAP2K1, and RET; oncogenic fusions involving ALK, RET, BRAF, RAF1, and FGFR3; and loss-of-function mutations in NF1 and PTEN. In two of nine patients with lung adenocarcinoma for whom paired tissue-biopsy samples were available, histologic transformation to squamous-cell carcinoma was observed without identification of any other resistance mechanisms. Using an in vitro deep mutational scanning screen, we systematically defined the landscape of KRAS mutations that confer resistance to KRAS(G12C) inhibitors.
CONCLUSIONS: Diverse genomic and histologic mechanisms impart resistance to covalent KRAS(G12C) inhibitors, and new therapeutic strategies are required to delay and overcome this drug resistance in patients with cancer. (Funded by Mirati Therapeutics and others; ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT03785249.).
Medical Subject Headings
Appendiceal Neoplasms; Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung; Colorectal Neoplasms; Drug Resistance, Neoplasm; Humans; Lung Neoplasms; Mutation; Piperazines; Protein Conformation; Proto-Oncogene Proteins p21(ras); Pyridines; Pyrimidines
PubMed ID
34161704
Volume
384
Issue
25
First Page
2382
Last Page
2393
