ERK-dependent suicide gene therapy for selective targeting of RTK/RAS-driven cancers

Abstract Suicide gene therapies provide a unique ability to target cancer cells selectively, often based on modification of viral tropism or transcriptional regulation of therapeutic gene expression. We designed a novel suicide gene therapy approach wherein the gene product (Herpes simplex virus thymidine kinase or yeast cytosine deaminase) is phosphorylated and stabilized in expression by the extracellular-signal-regulated kinase (ERK), which is overactive in numerous cancers with elevated expression or mutation of receptor tyrosine kinases or the GTPase RAS. In contrast to transcriptional strategies for selectivity, regulation of protein stability by ERK allows for high copy expression via constitutive viral promoters, while maintaining tumor selectivity in contexts of elevated ERK activity. Thus, our approach turns a signaling pathway often coopted by cancer cells for survival into a lethal disadvantage in the presence of a chimeric protein and prodrug, as highlighted by a series of in vitro and in vivo examples explored here.