CDK4/6 inhibitors promote PARP1 degradation and synergize with PARP inhibitors in non-small cell lung cancer

Abstract

Despite widespread deregulation of CDK4/6 activity in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), clinical trials with CDK4/6 inhibitor (CDK4/6i) as a monotherapy have shown poor antitumor activity. Preclinical studies indicate that CDK4/6i may collaborate by influencing DNA damage repair pathways during radiotherapy. Since PARP1 expression was also significantly upregulated in NSCLC, we analyzed the efficacy of combining PARP1 and CDK4/6 inhibition in NSCLC models. We found that CDK4/6is synergize with PARP1 inhibitors (PARPis) to inhibit the clonogenic growth of RB-proficient NSCLC models. This synergy correlates with increased accumulation of DNA damage, interrupted cell-cycle checkpoints, and enhanced apoptotic cell death. Mechanistically, we showed that CDK4/6is promote PARP1 protein degradation, which lead to decreased availability of DNA repair factors involved in homologous recombination and suppression of DNA repair competency. Furthermore, we showed that PARP trapping is engaged in this synergy. We then confirmed that combining PARPi and CDK4/6i blocked the growth of NSCLC xenografts in vivo and patient-derived explant models ex vivo. Our data reveal a previously uncharacterized impact of CDK4/6i on PARP1 levels in RB-proficient NSCLC models and the engagement of PARP trapping in the synergy between CDK4/6i and PARPi. Our findings suggest combining CDK4/6i with PARPi could be a viable therapeutic strategy for patients with RB-proficient NSCLC.