Authors

Rajeev K Boregowda, Division of Medical Oncology, Department of Medicine, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey
Daniel J Medina, Division of Medical Oncology, Department of Medicine, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey
Elke Markert, Cancer Research UK Beatson Institute
Michael A Bryan, Division of Medical Oncology, Department of Medicine, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey
Wenjin Chen, Center for Biomedical Imaging and Informatics, Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey; Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital, Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey
Suzie Chen, Department of Chemical Biology, Susan Lehman Cullman Laboratory for Cancer Research, Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey
Anna Rabkin, Department of Chemical Biology, Susan Lehman Cullman Laboratory for Cancer Research, Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey
Michael J Vido, Department of Cancer Biology, Thomas Jefferson University; Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center, Thomas Jefferson UniversityFollow
Samuel I Gunderson, Department of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry, Rutgers University
Marina Chekmareva, Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital, Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey
David J Foran, Center for Biomedical Imaging and Informatics, Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey; Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital, Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey
Ahmed Lasfar, Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, Piscataway, New Jersey, Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey
James S Goydos, Division of Surgical Oncology, Department of Surgery, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey
Karine A Cohen-Solal, Section of Surgical Oncology Research, Department of Surgery, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

5-17-2016

Comments

This article has been peer reviewed. It was published in: Oncotarget.

Volume 7, Issue 20, 17 May 2016, Pages 29689-29707.

The published version is available at DOI: 10.18632/oncotarget.8822

Copyright © 2016 The Authors

Abstract

Receptor tyrosine kinases-based autocrine loops largely contribute to activate the MAPK and PI3K/AKT pathways in melanoma. However, the molecular mechanisms involved in generating these autocrine loops are still largely unknown. In the present study, we examine the role of the transcription factor RUNX2 in the regulation of receptor tyrosine kinase (RTK) expression in melanoma. We have demonstrated that RUNX2-deficient melanoma cells display a significant decrease in three receptor tyrosine kinases, EGFR, IGF-1R and PDGFRβ. In addition, we found co-expression of RUNX2 and another RTK, AXL, in both melanoma cells and melanoma patient samples. We observed a decrease in phosphoAKT2 (S474) and phosphoAKT (T308) levels when RUNX2 knock down resulted in significant RTK down regulation. Finally, we showed a dramatic up regulation of RUNX2 expression with concomitant up-regulation of EGFR, IGF-1R and AXL in melanoma cells resistant to the BRAF V600E inhibitor PLX4720. Taken together, our results strongly suggest that RUNX2 might be a key player in RTK-based autocrine loops and a mediator of resistance to BRAF V600E inhibitors involving RTK up regulation in melanoma.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.

PubMed ID

27102439

Included in

Oncology Commons

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