2. Academic Validation
  3. Comprehensive functional evaluation of variants of fibroblast growth factor receptor genes in cancer

Comprehensive functional evaluation of variants of fibroblast growth factor receptor genes in cancer

  • NPJ Precis Oncol. 2021 Jul 16;5(1):66. doi: 10.1038/s41698-021-00204-0.
Ikuko Takeda Nakamura 1 2,  Shinji Kohsaka 3,  Masachika Ikegami 1 4,  Hiroshi Ikeuchi 1,  Toshihide Ueno 1,  Kunhua Li 5 6,  Tyler S Beyett 5 6,  Takafumi Koyama 7,  Toshio Shimizu 7,  Noboru Yamamoto 7,  Fumiyuki Takahashi 2,  Kazuhisa Takahashi 2,  Michael J Eck 5 6,  Hiroyuki Mano 8
Affiliations

Affiliations

  • 1 Division of Cellular Signaling, National Cancer Center Research Institute, Tokyo, Japan.
  • 2 Department of Respiratory Medicine, Graduate School of Medicine, Juntendo University, Tokyo, Japan.
  • 3 Division of Cellular Signaling, National Cancer Center Research Institute, Tokyo, Japan. [email protected].
  • 4 Department of Musculoskeletal Oncology, Tokyo Metropolitan Cancer and Infectious Diseases Center Komagome Hospital, Tokyo, Japan.
  • 5 Department of Cancer Biology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA, USA.
  • 6 Department of Biological Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
  • 7 Department of Experimental Therapeutics, National Cancer Center Hospital, Tokyo, Japan.
  • 8 Division of Cellular Signaling, National Cancer Center Research Institute, Tokyo, Japan. [email protected].
PMID: 34272467 DOI: 10.1038/s41698-021-00204-0
Abstract

Various genetic alterations of the Fibroblast Growth Factor receptor (FGFR) family have been detected across a wide range of cancers. However, inhibition of FGFR signaling by kinase inhibitors demonstrated limited clinical effectiveness. Herein, we evaluated the transforming activity and sensitivity of 160 nonsynonymous FGFR mutations and ten fusion genes to seven FGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKI) using the mixed-all-nominated-in-one (MANO) method, a high-throughput functional assay. The oncogenicity of 71 mutants was newly discovered in this study. The FGFR TKIs showed anti-proliferative activities against the wild-type FGFRs and their fusions, while several hotspot mutants were relatively resistant to those TKIs. The drug sensitivities assessed with the MANO method were well concordant with those evaluated using in vitro and in vivo assays. Comprehensive analysis of published FGFR structures revealed a possible mechanism through which oncogenic FGFR mutations reduce sensitivity to TKIs. It was further revealed that recurrent compound mutations within FGFRs affect the transforming potential and TKI-sensitivity of corresponding kinases. In conclusion, our study suggests the importance of selecting suitable inhibitors against individual FGFR variants. Moreover, it reveals the necessity to develop next-generation FGFR inhibitors, which are effective against all oncogenic FGFR variants.

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