GSK3 alpha and beta are new functionally relevant targets of tivantinib in lung cancer cells

Tivantinib has been described as a potent and highly selective inhibitor of the receptor tyrosine kinase c-MET and is currently in advanced clinical development for several cancers including non-small cell lung Cancer (NSCLC). However, recent studies suggest that tivantinib's Anticancer properties are unrelated to c-MET inhibition. Consistently, in determining tivantinib's activity profile in a broad panel of NSCLC cell lines, we found that, in contrast to several more potent c-MET inhibitors, tivantinib reduces cell viability across most of these cell lines. Applying an unbiased, mass-spectrometry-based, chemical proteomics approach, we identified glycogen synthase kinase 3 (GSK3) alpha and beta as novel tivantinib targets. Subsequent validation showed that tivantinib displayed higher potency for GSK3α than for GSK3β and that pharmacological inhibition or simultaneous siRNA-mediated loss of GSK3α and GSK3β caused Apoptosis. In summary, GSK3α and GSK3β are new kinase targets of tivantinib that play an important role in its cellular mechanism-of-action in NSCLC.