Abstract 700: Investigating KRAS synthetic lethal/co-dependency interactions using siRNA and CRISPR

No molecularly targeted therapy has yet been identified for KRAS mutant cancers. As oncogenic mutations reduce RAS enzymatic activity, classic small molecule approaches are ineffective, hence most work has focussed on drugging RAS-effector pathways. Multiple inhibitors of MEK, RAF and PI3K have been identified but toxicity issues and pathway adaptation have stymied their success against KRAS-driven cancers. An alternative approach is to exploit “non-oncogene addiction” by identifying targets with synthetic lethal or co-dependence interactions with KRAS.A number of siRNA and shRNA screens have identified targets that exhibit differential dependencies between KRAS mutant and KRAS wild-type tumours, but there is poor overlap between the different published studies. This discordance may arise from (1) the noise inherent in using cell line panels differing in much more than their KRAS mutant/wild-type status and (2) the use of RNA interference methodologies driving incomplete knockdown and associated with substantial off-target effects. Next generation screens that exploit both isogenic cell lines and cell line panels, and use a combination of knockdown and knock-out (i.e. CRISPR/Cas9-sgRNA) methodologies, may be better suited for identifying novel targets that withstand validation. However, if we are to detect co-dependence as well as synthetic lethal interactions, screens must be performed under conditions where mutant KRAS alleles are essential for growth.A library of siRNA...

Source: Cancer Research - August 2, 2015 Category: Cancer & Oncology Authors: Scrace, S. F., Tsonou, E., Russell, P., Wickenden, J. A., Lawo, S., Scales, T. M., Wiggins, C. M., Moore, J. D. Tags: Experimental and Molecular Therapeutics Source Type: research