Targeting Systems Vulnerabilities in the Gαq/GNAQ Oncogenic Signaling Circuitry: New Precision Therapies for Uveal Melanoma

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Targeting Systems Vulnerabilities in the Gαq/GNAQ Oncogenic Signaling Circuitry: New Precision Therapies for Uveal Melanoma G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) represent the largest family of cell surface proteins involved in signal transmission. GPCRs play key physiological roles and their dysfunction contributes to some of the most prevalent human diseases, making them the target of >25% of all therapeutic drugs. Strikingly, our recent analysis of human cancer genomes revealed an unanticipated high frequency of mutations in G proteins and GPCRs in most tumor types. Indeed, nearly 30% of human cancers harbor mutations in GPCRs or G proteins. While their tumorigenic potential is under investigation, activating mutations in GNAQ and GNA11 (herein referred as GNAQ oncogenes, which encode GTPase deficient and constitutively active Gαq proteins), were identified in ~93% of uveal melanoma (UM) and 4% of skin cutaneous melanoma (SKCM), respectively, where they act as oncogenic drivers. UM is the most common primary cancer of the eye in adults, affecting more than 2,500 patients each year in the US alone, nearly 50% of which will die from liver metastasis. To date, there are no effective therapeutic options to treat metastatic UM disease (mUM). We recently demonstrated that YAP activation is central to UM growth and uncovered a novel direct link between Gαq-FAK driven tyrosine phosphorylation networks and YAP activation. Our central hypothesis is that this signaling specificity may represent a systems vulnerability that can be exploited for the development of new precision therapies for mUM. Our overall hypothesis is that our proposed studies targeting FAK, which acts downstream from Gαq, and its compensatory (resistance) or synthetic lethal (sensitizing) mechanisms will provide an oncogene-specific therapeutic approach for advanced and mUM, resulting in increased antitumor activity with lower toxicities and fewer side effects. Ultimately, our premise is that FAK is an integral part of the GNAQ oncogenic pathway and that in turn, FAK blockade with clinically relevant FAK inhibitors (FAKi) may represent a precision therapeutic approach for the treatment of mUM, alone or as part or as part of novel signal transduction-based precision co-targeting strategies. This will be investigated in 3 aims: Aim 1: To exploit GNAQ-synthetic lethal and gene interaction networks to expose systems vulnerabilities resulting in UM cell death as a precision therapeutic approach to treat mUM. Aim 2. To establish the therapeutic potential of co-targeting the Gαq-FAK regulated pathway in vivo. Aim 3. Characterization of FAKi/MEKi tolerant persister populations and mechanisms of acquired resistance