Abstract 1477: Co-targeting c-Met and c-Src pathways to inhibit metastatic cancer cell migration and invasion

Abstract

Abstract Overexpression of tyrosine kinases c-Src and c-Met has been shown to be highly associated with disease progression and poor clinical outcomes in many types of cancers. Although small molecule Src or Met inhibitors are being individually evaluated in clinical trials, patient data suggest that single treatment with any of these inhibitors only yield limited effects. One possibility is that redundant signaling pathways in tumor cells may allow tumor cell functions less interrupted upon inhibition of only one pathway. We therefore propose that c-Src and c-Met are two compensatory pathways that may cooperate to promote cancer metastasis. In order to delineate this hypothesis, we studied treatment effects of combining inhibitors targeting c-Src (dasatinib) and c-Met (ASLAN002) on multiple functional behaviors associated with tumor metastasis in c-Src and c-Met expressing metastatic cancer cells. Combination of Src- and Met-inhibitors was found to strongly inhibit cell colony formation by clonogenic survival assay. In a wound-healing assay, compared to either treatment alone, the combinatorial treatment exhibited greater suppression on cell motility. In addition, using a Matrigel-based Transwell assay, dasatinib plus ASLAN002 resulted in significant reduction of cell invasion in the presence or absence of HGF. Western blot analysis demonstrated that co-targeting Met and Src kinases lead to not only inhibition on c-Met and c-Src autophosphorylation but also multiple downstream kinases such as focal adhesion kinase (FAK), Akt and extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK). These data indicate that combined application of small molecule Src and Met inhibitors cause significant impairment on functional behaviors associated with cancer metastasis in vitro including survival, migration and invasion, suggesting that this combination intervention modality may serve as a potential anti-metastatic strategy that could be further tested in metastatic models in vivo. Citation Format: Yao Dai, Dietmar W. Siemann. Co-targeting c-Met and c-Src pathways to inhibit metastatic cancer cell migration and invasion [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2021; 2021 Apr 10-15 and May 17-21. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2021;81(13_Suppl):Abstract nr 1477.