The potent and selective cyclin-dependent kinases 4 and 6 inhibitor ribociclib (LEE011) is a versatile combination partner in preclinical cancer models

• Published in: Oncotarget Vol. 9; no. 81; pp. 35226 - 35240
• Main Authors: Kim, Sunkyu, Tiedt, Ralph, Loo, Alice, Horn, Thomas, Delach, Scott, Kovats, Steven, Haas, Kristy, Engstler, Barbara Schacher, Cao, Alexander, Pinzon-Ortiz, Maria, Mulford, Iain, Acker, Michael G, Chopra, Rajiv, Brain, Christopher, di Tomaso, Emmanuelle, Sellers, William R, Caponigro, Giordano
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Impact Journals LLC 16.10.2018
• Subjects: Research Paper; selectivity; LEE011; preclinical; ribociclib; CDK4/6 inhibitor
• ISSN: 1949-2553; 1949-2553
• DOI: 10.18632/oncotarget.26215

Inhibition of cyclin-dependent kinases 4 and 6 (CDK4/6) is associated with robust antitumor activity. Ribociclib (LEE011) is an orally bioavailable CDK4/6 inhibitor that is approved for the treatment of hormone receptor-positive, human epidermal growth factor receptor 2-negative advanced breast cancer, in combination with an aromatase inhibitor, and is currently being evaluated in several additional trials. Here, we report the preclinical profile of ribociclib. When tested across a large panel of kinase active site binding assays, ribociclib and palbociclib were highly selective for CDK4, while abemaciclib showed affinity to several other kinases. Both ribociclib and abemaciclib showed slightly higher potency in -dependent cells than in -dependent cells, while palbociclib did not show such a difference. Profiling CDK4/6 inhibitors in large-scale cancer cell line screens confirmed that loss of function is a negative predictor of sensitivity. We also found that routinely used cellular viability assays measuring adenosine triphosphate levels as a proxy for cell numbers underestimated the effects of CDK4/6 inhibition, which contrasts with assays that assess cell number more directly. Robust antitumor efficacy and combination benefit was detected when ribociclib was added to encorafenib, nazartinib, or endocrine therapies in patient-derived xenografts.