Munkhbaatar, E., Dietzen, M., Agrawal, D., Anton, M., Jesinghaus, M., Boxberg, M., Pfarr, N., Bidola, P., Uhrig, S., Hockendorf, U., Meinhardt, A. L., Wahida, A., Heid, I., Braren, R., Mishra, R., Warth, A., Muley, T., Poh, P. S. P., Wang, X., Frohling, S., Steiger, K., Slotta-Huspenina, J., van Griensven, M., Pfeiffer, F., Lange, S., Rad, R., Spella, M., Stathopoulos, G. T., Ruland, J., Bassermann, F., Weichert, W., Strasser, A., Branca, C., Heikenwalder, M., Swanton, C., McGranahan, N., Jost, P. J. (2020). Nat Commun 11, 4527.
DOI:10.1038/s41467-020-18372-1
Evasion of programmed cell death represents a critical form of oncogene addiction in cancer cells. Understanding the molecular mechanisms underpinning cancer cell survival despite the oncogenic stress could provide a molecular basis for potential therapeutic interventions. Here we explore the role of pro-survival genes in cancer cell integrity during clonal evolution in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). We identify gains of MCL-1 at high frequency in multiple independent NSCLC cohorts, occurring both clonally and subclonally. Clonal loss of functional TP53 is significantly associated with subclonal gains of MCL-1. In mice, tumour progression is delayed upon pharmacologic or genetic inhibition of MCL-1. These findings reveal that MCL-1 gains occur with high frequency in lung adenocarcinoma and can be targeted therapeutically.
