Sulfarotene, a synthetic retinoid, overcomes stemness and sorafenib resistance of hepatocellular carcinoma via suppressing SOS2-RAS pathway

BACKGROUND: Recurrent hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) shows strong resistance to sorafenib, and the tumor-repopulating cells (TRCs) with cancer stem cell-like properties are considered a driver for its high recurrent rate and drug resistance. METHODS: Suppression of TRCs may thus be an effective therapeutic strategy for treating this fatal disease. We evaluated the pharmacology and mechanism of sulfarotene, a new type of synthetic retinoid, on the cancer stem cell-like properties of HCC TRCs, and assessed its preclinical efficacy in models of HCC patient-derived xenografts (PDXs). RESULTS: Sulfarotene selectively inhibited the growth of HCC TRCs in vitro and significantly deterred TRC-mediated tumor formation and lung metastasis in vivo without apparent toxicity, with an IC(50) superior to that of acyclic retinoid and sorafenib, to which the recurrent HCC exhibits significant resistance at advanced stage. Sulfarotene promoted the expression and activation of RARα, which down-regulated SOS2, a key signal mediator associated with RAS activation and signal transduction involved in multiple downstream pathways. Moreover, sulfarotene selectively inhibited tumorigenesis of HCC PDXs with high expression for SOS2. CONCLUSIONS: Our study identified sulfarotene as a selective inhibitor for the TRCs of HCC, which targets a novel RARα-SOS2-RAS signal nexus, shedding light on a new, promising strategy of target therapy for advanced liver cancer. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s13046-021-02085-4.