Molecular subclasses of hepatocellular carcinoma predict sensitivity to fibroblast growth factor receptor inhibition |
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| Authors: | Benjamin Schmidt Lan Wei Danielle K DePeralta Yujin Hoshida Poh Seng Tan Xiaochen Sun Janelle P Sventek Michael Lanuti Kenneth K Tanabe Bryan C Fuchs |
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| Affiliation: | 1. Division of Surgical Oncology, Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA;2. Liver Cancer Program, Tisch Cancer Institute, Division of Liver Diseases, Department of Medicine, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY;3. Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, University Medicine Cluster, National University Health System, Singapore, Singapore;4. Division of Thoracic Surgery, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA |
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| Abstract: | A recent gene expression classification of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) includes a poor survival subclass termed S2 representing about one‐third of all HCC in clinical series. S2 cells express E‐cadherin and c‐myc and secrete AFP. As the expression of fibroblast growth factor receptors (FGFRs) differs between S2 and non‐S2 HCC, this study investigated whether molecular subclasses of HCC predict sensitivity to FGFR inhibition. S2 cell lines were significantly more sensitive (p < 0.001) to the FGFR inhibitors BGJ398 and AZD4547. BGJ398 decreased MAPK signaling in S2 but not in non‐S2 cell lines. All cell lines expressed FGFR1 and FGFR2, but only S2 cell lines expressed FGFR3 and FGFR4. FGFR4 siRNA decreased proliferation by 44% or more in all five S2 cell lines (p < 0.05 for each cell line), a significantly greater decrease than seen with knockdown of FGFR1‐3 with siRNA transfection. FGFR4 knockdown decreased MAPK signaling in S2 cell lines, but little effect was seen with knockdown of FGFR1‐3. In conclusion, the S2 molecular subclass of HCC is sensitive to FGFR inhibition. FGFR4‐MAPK signaling plays an important role in driving proliferation of a molecular subclass of HCC. This classification system may help to identify those patients who are most likely to benefit from inhibition of this pathway. |
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| Keywords: | liver cancer FGFR MAPK BGJ398 AZD4547 |
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