Lei Cheng, Zuguang Xia, Xinyu Bian, Guangchao Li, Jing Hu, Ya Cao, Qing Wang, Xiaoping Qian

Mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) has been shown to be overactive in human colorectal cancer, but the first-generation mTOR inhibitor, rapamycin, has failed to show clinical efficacy against colorectal cancer. On the other hand, although the second-generation mTOR inhibitor, PP242, has exerted substantial efficacy, it was revealed that independent inhibition by PP242 was transient, which could lead to positive-feedback loop to EGFR. Using wild-type KRAS colorectal cancer cells as models, we investigate the treatment efficacy of a widely used anti-EGFR monoclonal antibody, cetuximab, and PP242, alone or in combination in vitro and in vivo. Results of cell viability assays confirmed the synergistic inhibitory effect of PP242 and cetuximab on the survival of Caco-2 and HT-29 cells. Moreover, the ability of cancer-cell invasion and proliferation was also significantly inhibited by the combination therapy when compared with cetuximab or PP242 alone. Interestingly, the percentage of CD44-positive cancer cells was substantially decreased by the combination therapy in comparison with PP242 alone through fluorescence-activated cell sorting. The growth of cancer stem-like cell spheres in vitro was also maximally inhibited by combination therapy, in terms of either diameter or number. More importantly, the efficacy of combination therapy was more prominent than either drug alone in established tumor xenografts. These findings supported the potential use of combination therapy of PP242 and cetuximab against wild-type KRAS colorectal carcinomas.