The PI3K/mTOR inhibitor Gedatolisib eliminates dormant breast cancer cells in organotypic culture, but fails to prevent metastasis in preclinical settings

Dormant, disseminated tumor cells (DTCs) are thought to be the source of breast cancer metastases several years or even decades after initial treatment. To date, a selective therapy that leads to their elimination has not been discovered. While dormant DTCs resist chemotherapy, evidence suggests that this resistance is driven not by their lack of proliferation, but by their engagement of the surrounding microenvironment, via integrin-beta 1-mediated interactions. Because integrin-beta 1-targeted agents have not been translated readily to the clinic, signaling nodes downstream of integrin-beta 1 could serve as attractive therapeutic targets in order to sensitize dormant DTCs to therapy. By probing a number of kinases downstream of integrin-beta 1, we determined that PI3K inhibition with either a tool compounds or a compound (PF-05212384; aka Gedatolisib) in clinical trials robustly sensitizes quiescent breast tumor cells seeded in organotypic bone marrow cultures to chemotherapy. These results motivated the preclinical study of whether Gedatolisib-with or without genotoxic therapy-would reduce DTC burden and prevent metastases. Despite promising results in organotypic culture, Gedatolisib failed to reduce DTC burden or delay, reduce or prevent metastasis in murine models of either triple-negative or estrogen receptor-positive breast cancer dissemination and metastasis. This result held true whether analyzing Gedatolisib on its own (vs. vehicle-treated animals) or in combination with dose-dense doxorubicin and cyclophosphamide (vs. animals treated only with dose-dense chemotherapies). These data suggest that PI3K is not the node downstream of integrin-beta 1 that confers chemotherapeutic resistance to DTCs. More broadly, they cast doubt on the strategy to target PI3K in order to eliminate DTCs and prevent breast cancer metastasis.

Automated summary

Dormant, disseminated tumor cells (DTCs) are believed to be the root of breast cancer metastases, resistant to chemotherapy due to interactions with the microenvironment via integrin-beta 1. Inhibition of PI3K downstream of integrin-beta 1 sensitizes dormant DTCs to chemotherapy, but targeting PI3K failed to reduce DTC burden or prevent metastasis in preclinical studies. This raises doubts about the strategy to eliminate DTCs and prevent breast cancer metastasis by targeting PI3K.