Resistance to TRK inhibition mediated by convergent MAPK pathway activation Research Letter


Authors: Cocco, E.; Schram, A. M.; Kulick, A.; Misale, S.; Won, H. H.; Yaeger, R.; Razavi, P.; Ptashkin, R.; Hechtman, J. F.; Toska, E.; Cownie, J.; Somwar, R.; Shifman, S.; Mattar, M.; Selçuklu, S. D.; Samoila, A.; Guzman, S.; Tuch, B. B.; Ebata, K.; de Stanchina, E.; Nagy, R. J.; Lanman, R. B.; Houck-Loomis, B.; Patel, J. A.; Berger, M. F.; Ladanyi, M.; Hyman, D. M.; Drilon, A.; Scaltriti, M.
Title: Resistance to TRK inhibition mediated by convergent MAPK pathway activation
Abstract: TRK fusions are found in a variety of cancer types, lead to oncogenic addiction, and strongly predict tumor-agnostic efficacy of TRK inhibition1–8. With the recent approval of the first selective TRK inhibitor, larotrectinib, for patients with any TRK-fusion-positive adult or pediatric solid tumor, to identify mechanisms of treatment failure after initial response has become of immediate therapeutic relevance. So far, the only known resistance mechanism is the acquisition of on-target TRK kinase domain mutations, which interfere with drug binding and can potentially be addressable through second-generation TRK inhibitors9–11. Here, we report off-target resistance in patients treated with TRK inhibitors and in patient-derived models, mediated by genomic alterations that converge to activate the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathway. MAPK pathway-directed targeted therapy, administered alone or in combination with TRK inhibition, re-established disease control. Experimental modeling further suggests that upfront dual inhibition of TRK and MEK may delay time to progression in cancer types prone to the genomic acquisition of MAPK pathway-activating alterations. Collectively, these data suggest that a subset of patients will develop off-target mechanisms of resistance to TRK inhibition with potential implications for clinical management and future clinical trial design. © 2019, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature America, Inc.
Keywords: mitogen activated protein kinase; controlled study; human tissue; unclassified drug; gene mutation; human cell; missense mutation; cancer combination chemotherapy; cancer growth; nonhuman; pancreas cancer; letter; colorectal cancer; mouse; animal tissue; enzyme inhibition; gene amplification; animal experiment; animal model; tumor biopsy; enzyme activation; protein tyrosine kinase; cancer resistance; dna; pancreas adenocarcinoma; bile duct carcinoma; oncogene k ras; b raf kinase; mitogen activated protein kinase kinase; crizotinib; ectopic expression; dabrafenib; trametinib; mapk signaling; off-target effect; human; male; female; priority journal; entrectinib; larotrectinib; circulating cell free dna; selitrectinib
Journal Title: Nature Medicine
Volume: 25
Issue: 9
ISSN: 1078-8956
Publisher: Nature Publishing Group  
Date Published: 2019-09-01
Start Page: 1422
End Page: 1427
Language: English
DOI: 10.1038/s41591-019-0542-z
PUBMED: 31406350
PROVIDER: scopus
PMCID: PMC6736691
DOI/URL:
Notes: Letter -- Export Date: 1 November 2019 -- Source: Scopus
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MSK Authors
  1. Marc Ladanyi
    1279 Ladanyi
  2. Rona Denit Yaeger
    265 Yaeger
  3. David Hyman
    352 Hyman
  4. Romel Somwar
    97 Somwar
  5. Michael Forman Berger
    707 Berger
  6. Alexander Edward Drilon
    556 Drilon
  7. Alison Michele Schram
    104 Schram
  8. Helen Hyeong-Eun Won
    109 Won
  9. Aliaksandra Samoila
    22 Samoila
  10. Maurizio Scaltriti
    169 Scaltriti
  11. Jaclyn Frances Hechtman
    208 Hechtman
  12. Pedram Razavi
    144 Razavi
  13. Eneda   Toska
    30 Toska
  14. Marissa   Mattar
    52 Mattar
  15. Emiliano Cocco
    31 Cocco
  16. Amanda Kulick
    21 Kulick
  17. Juber Ahamad Abdul Bari Patel
    28 Patel
  18. Sean Guzman
    5 Guzman
  19. Sandra Misale
    17 Misale
  20. James Alexander Cownie
    3 Cownie
  21. Sophie Shifman
    10 Shifman