Therapy-induced tumour secretomes promote resistance and tumour progression

Drug resistance invariably limits the clinical efficacy of targeted therapy with kinase inhibitors against cancer(1,2). Here we show that targeted therapy with BRAF, ALK, or EGFR kinase inhibitors induces a complex network of secreted signals in drug-stressed melanoma and lung adenocarcinoma cells. This therapy-induced secretome (TIS) stimulates the outgrowth, dissemination, and metastasis of drug-resistant cancer cell clones and supports the survival of drug-sensitive cancer cells, contributing to incomplete tumour regression. The vemurafenib reactive secretome in melanoma is driven by down-regulation of the transcription factor FRA1. In situ transcriptome analysis of drug-resistant melanoma cells responding to the regressing tumour microenvironment revealed hyperactivation of multiple signalling pathways, most prominently the AKT pathway. Dual inhibition of RAF and PI3K/AKT/mTOR pathways blunted the outgrowth of the drug-resistant cell population in BRAF mutant melanoma tumours, suggesting this combination therapy as a strategy against tumour relapse. Thus, therapeutic inhibition of oncogenic drivers induces vast secretome changes in drug-sensitive cancer cells, paradoxically establishing a tumour microenvironment that supports the expansion of drug-resistant clones, but is susceptible to combination therapy.