SOS2 regulates the threshold of mutantEGFR-dependent oncogenesis

Abstract

AbstractSon of Sevenless 1 and 2 (SOS1 and SOS2) are RAS guanine nucleotide exchange factors (RasGEFs) that mediate physiologic and pathologic RTK-dependent RAS activation. Here, we show that SOS2 modulates the threshold of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) signaling to regulate the efficacy of and resistance to the EGFR-TKI osimertinib in lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD).SOS2deletion sensitizedEGFR-mutated cells to perturbations in EGFR signaling caused by reduced serum and/or osimertinib treatment to inhibit PI3K/AKT pathway activation, oncogenic transformation, and survival. Bypass RTK reactivation of PI3K/AKT signaling represents a common resistance mechanism to EGFR-TKIs;SOS2KO reduced PI3K/AKT reactivation to limit osimertinib resistance. In a forced HGF/MET-driven bypass model,SOS2KO inhibited HGF-stimulated PI3K signaling to block HGF-driven osimertinib resistance. Using a long termin situresistance assay, a majority of osimertinib resistant cultures exhibited a hybrid epithelial/mesenchymal phenotype associated with reactivated RTK/AKT signaling. In contrast, RTK/AKT-dependent osimertinib resistance was markedly reduced bySOS2deletion; the fewSOS2KO cultures that became osimertinib resistant primarily underwent non-RTK dependent EMT. Since bypass RTK reactivation and/or tertiaryEGFRmutations represent the majority of osimertinib-resistant cancers, these data suggest that targeting SOS2 has the potential to eliminate the majority of osimertinib resistance.One sentence summarySOS2 modulates the threshold of EGFR-PI3K signaling to regulate the efficacy of and resistance to osimertinib.