Inhibition of GSK3β is synthetic lethal with FHIT loss in lung cancer by blocking homologous recombination repair

Abstract

FHIT is a fragile site tumor suppressor that is primarily inactivated upon tobacco smoking. FHIT loss is frequently observed in lung cancer, making it an important biomarker for the development of targeted therapy for lung cancer. Here, we report that inhibitors of glycogen synthase kinase 3 beta (GSK3β) and the homologous recombination DNA repair (HRR) pathway are synthetic lethal with FHIT loss in lung cancer. Pharmacological inhibition or siRNA depletion of GSK3β selectively suppressed the growth of FHIT-deficient lung cancer tumors in vitro and in animal models. We further showed that FHIT inactivation leads to the activation of DNA damage repair pathways, including the HRR and NHEJ pathways, in lung cancer cells. Conversely, FHIT-deficient cells are highly dependent on HRR for survival under DNA damage stress. The inhibition of GSK3β in FHIT-deficient cells suppressed the ATR/BRCA1/RAD51 axis in HRR signaling via two distinct pathways and suppressed DNA double-strand break repair, leading to the accumulation of DNA damage and apoptosis. Small molecule inhibitors of HRR, but not NHEJ or PARP, induced synthetic lethality in FHIT-deficient lung cancer cells. The findings of this study suggest that the GSK3β and HRR pathways are potential drug targets in lung cancer patients with FHIT loss. Lung cancer is a major cause of cancer deaths, often due to smoking. Despite progress, death rates remain high. Researchers found a gap in targeting FHIT, a tumor suppressor gene often missing in lung cancer. The study used synthetic lethality (a genetic interaction where two gene mutations cause cell death) to target FHIT loss. They tested drugs on lung cancer cells and discovered that blocking GSK3β (an enzyme involved in various cell processes) killed FHIT-deficient cells. This study used cell cultures and mice, focusing on DNA repair pathways vital for cancer cell survival. Results showed that inhibiting GSK3β increased DNA damage and cell death in FHIT-deficient cells. The study suggests that targeting GSK3β could lead to new treatments for lung cancer with FHIT loss, offering hope for better therapies. This summary was initially drafted using artificial intelligence, then revised and fact-checked by the author.