Synthetic lethality in ATM-deficient RAD50-mutant tumors underlies outlier response to cancer therapy Journal Article


Authors: Al-Ahmadie, H.; Iyer, G.; Hohl, M.; Asthana, S.; Inagaki, A.; Schultz, N.; Hanrahan, A. J.; Scott, S. N.; Brannon, A. R.; McDermott, G. C.; Pirun, M.; Ostrovnaya, I.; Kim, P.; Socci, N. D.; Viale, A.; Schwartz, G. K.; Reuter, V.; Bochner, B. H.; Rosenberg, J. E.; Bajorin, D. F.; Berger, M. F.; Petrini, J. H. J.; Solit, D. B.; Taylor, B. S.
Article Title: Synthetic lethality in ATM-deficient RAD50-mutant tumors underlies outlier response to cancer therapy
Abstract: Metastatic solid tumors are almost invariably fatal. Patients with disseminated small-cell cancers have a particularly unfavorable prognosis, with most succumbing to their disease within two years. Here, we report on the genetic and functional analysis of an outlier curative response of a patient with metastatic small-cell cancer to combined checkpoint kinase 1 (CHK1) inhibition and DNA-damaging chemotherapy. Whole-genome sequencing revealed a clonal hemizygous mutation in the Mre11 complex gene RAD50 that attenuated ATM signaling which in the context of CHK1 inhibition contributed, via synthetic lethality, to extreme sensitivity to irinotecan. As Mre11 mutations occur in a diversity of human tumors, the results suggest a tumor-specific combination therapy strategy in which checkpoint inhibition in combination with DNA-damaging chemotherapy is synthetically lethal in tumor cells but not normal cells with somatic mutations that impair Mre11 complex function. Significance: Strategies to effect deep and lasting responses to cancer therapy in patients with metastatic disease have remained difficult to attain, especially in early-phase clinical trials. Here, we present an in-depth genomic and functional genetic analysis identifying RAD50 hypomorphism as a contributing factor to a curative response to systemic combination therapy in a patient with recurrent, metastatic small-cell cancer. © 2014 American Association for Cancer Research.
Journal Title: Cancer Discovery
Volume: 4
Issue: 9
ISSN: 2159-8274
Publisher: American Association for Cancer Research  
Date Published: 2014-09-01
Start Page: 1014
End Page: 1021
Language: English
DOI: 10.1158/2159-8290.cd-14-0380
PROVIDER: scopus
PMCID: PMC4155059
PUBMED: 24934408
DOI/URL:
Notes: Export Date: 1 October 2014 -- Source: Scopus
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MSK Authors
  1. Dean Bajorin
    658 Bajorin
  2. Gary Schwartz
    385 Schwartz
  3. David Solit
    779 Solit
  4. John Petrini
    94 Petrini
  5. Gopakumar Vasudeva Iyer
    344 Iyer
  6. Marcel Hohl
    13 Hohl
  7. Bernard Bochner
    468 Bochner
  8. Agnes Viale
    245 Viale
  9. Mono Pirun
    18 Pirun
  10. Nicholas D Socci
    266 Socci
  11. Michael Forman Berger
    765 Berger
  12. Victor Reuter
    1228 Reuter
  13. Philip Hyunwoo Kim
    39 Kim
  14. Nikolaus D Schultz
    487 Schultz
  15. Angela Rose Brannon
    99 Brannon
  16. Jonathan Eric Rosenberg
    511 Rosenberg
  17. Sasinya Neka Scott
    70 Scott