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Chakroborty D, Ojala VK, Knittle AM, Drexler J, Tamirat MZ, Ruzicka R, Bosch K, Woertl J, Schmittner S, Elo LL, Johnson MS, Kurppa KJ, Solca F, Elenius K. An Unbiased Functional Genetics Screen Identifies Rare Activating ERBB4 Mutations. Cancer Res Commun 2022; 2:10-27. [PMID: 36860695 PMCID: PMC9973412 DOI: 10.1158/2767-9764.crc-21-0021] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/10/2021] [Revised: 10/04/2021] [Accepted: 12/21/2021] [Indexed: 06/18/2023]
Abstract
UNLABELLED Despite the relatively high frequency of somatic ERBB4 mutations in various cancer types, only a few activating ERBB4 mutations have been characterized, primarily due to lack of mutational hotspots in the ERBB4 gene. Here, we utilized our previously published pipeline, an in vitro screen for activating mutations, to perform an unbiased functional screen to identify potential activating ERBB4 mutations from a randomly mutated ERBB4 expression library. Ten potentially activating ERBB4 mutations were identified and subjected to validation by functional and structural analyses. Two of the 10 ERBB4 mutants, E715K and R687K, demonstrated hyperactivity in all tested cell models and promoted cellular growth under two-dimensional and three-dimensional culture conditions. ERBB4 E715K also promoted tumor growth in in vivo Ba/F3 cell mouse allografts. Importantly, all tested ERBB4 mutants were sensitive to the pan-ERBB tyrosine kinase inhibitors afatinib, neratinib, and dacomitinib. Our data indicate that rare ERBB4 mutations are potential candidates for ERBB4-targeted therapy with pan-ERBB inhibitors. STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE ERBB4 is a member of the ERBB family of oncogenes that is frequently mutated in different cancer types but the functional impact of its somatic mutations remains unknown. Here, we have analyzed the function of over 8,000 randomly mutated ERBB4 variants in an unbiased functional genetics screen. The data indicate the presence of rare activating ERBB4 mutations in cancer, with potential to be targeted with clinically approved pan-ERBB inhibitors.
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Affiliation(s)
- Deepankar Chakroborty
- Institute of Biomedicine, University of Turku, Turku, Finland
- Medicity Research Laboratories, University of Turku, Turku, Finland
- Turku Doctoral Programme of Molecular Medicine, Turku, Finland
- Turku Bioscience Centre, University of Turku and Åbo Akademi University, Turku, Finland
| | - Veera K. Ojala
- Institute of Biomedicine, University of Turku, Turku, Finland
- Medicity Research Laboratories, University of Turku, Turku, Finland
- Turku Doctoral Programme of Molecular Medicine, Turku, Finland
- Turku Bioscience Centre, University of Turku and Åbo Akademi University, Turku, Finland
| | - Anna M. Knittle
- Institute of Biomedicine, University of Turku, Turku, Finland
| | | | - Mahlet Z. Tamirat
- Structural Bioinformatics Laboratory, Biochemistry, Faculty of Science and Engineering, Åbo Akademi University, Turku, Finland
- InFLAMES Research Flagship Center, Åbo Akademi University, Turku, Finland
- Graduate School of Åbo Akademi University (Informational and Structural Biology Doctoral Network), Turku, Finland
| | | | - Karin Bosch
- Boehringer Ingelheim RCV GmbH & Co KG, Vienna, Austria
| | | | | | - Laura L. Elo
- Institute of Biomedicine, University of Turku, Turku, Finland
- Turku Bioscience Centre, University of Turku and Åbo Akademi University, Turku, Finland
| | - Mark S. Johnson
- Structural Bioinformatics Laboratory, Biochemistry, Faculty of Science and Engineering, Åbo Akademi University, Turku, Finland
- InFLAMES Research Flagship Center, Åbo Akademi University, Turku, Finland
| | - Kari J. Kurppa
- Institute of Biomedicine, University of Turku, Turku, Finland
- Medicity Research Laboratories, University of Turku, Turku, Finland
- Turku Bioscience Centre, University of Turku and Åbo Akademi University, Turku, Finland
| | - Flavio Solca
- Boehringer Ingelheim RCV GmbH & Co KG, Vienna, Austria
| | - Klaus Elenius
- Institute of Biomedicine, University of Turku, Turku, Finland
- Medicity Research Laboratories, University of Turku, Turku, Finland
- Turku Bioscience Centre, University of Turku and Åbo Akademi University, Turku, Finland
- Department of Oncology, Turku University Hospital, Turku, Finland
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