Enhanced Efficacy of Combined Therapy with Checkpoint Kinase 1 Inhibitor and Rucaparib via Regulation of Rad51 Expression in BRCA Wild-Type Epithelial Ovarian Cancer Cells
- Author:
Hye-yon CHO
1
;
Yong-Beom KIM
;
Wook-ha PARK
;
Jae Hong NO
Author Information
- Publication Type:Original Article
- From:Cancer Research and Treatment 2021;53(3):819-828
- CountryRepublic of Korea
- Language:English
-
Abstract:
Purpose:This study aimed to evaluate anticancer effects of combination treatment with poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) and checkpoint kinase 1 (Chk1) inhibitors in BRCA wild-type ovarian cancer. PARP inhibitors can function as DNA-damaging agents in BRCA wild-type cancer, even if clinical activity is limited. Most epithelial ovarian cancers are characterized by a TP53 mutation causing dysfunction at the G1/S checkpoint, which makes tumor cells highly dependent on Chk1-mediated G/M phase cell-cycle arrest for DNA repair.
Materials and Methods:We investigated the anticancer effects of combination treatment with prexasertib (LY2606368), a selective ATP competitive small molecule inhibitor of Chk1 and Chk2, and rucaparib, a PARP inhibitor, in BRCA wild-type ovarian cancer cell lines (OVCAR3 and SKOV3).
Results:We found that combined treatment significantly decreased cell viability in all cell lines and induced greater DNA damage and apoptosis than in the control and/or using monotherapies. Moreover, we found that prexasertib significantly inhibited homologous recombination–mediated DNA repair and thus showed a marked anticancer effect in combination treatment with rucaparib. The anticancer mechanism of prexasertib and rucaparib was considered to be caused by an impaired G2/M checkpoint due to prexasertib treatment, which forced mitotic catastrophe in the presence of rucaparib.
Conclusion:Our results suggest a novel effective therapeutic strategy for BRCA wild-type epithelial ovarian cancer using a combination of Chk1 and PARP inhibitors.