Expression signatures of the lipid-based Akt inhibitors phosphatidylinositol ether lipid analogues in NSCLC cells

Abstract

Activation of the serine/threonine kinase Akt contributes to the formation, maintenance, and therapeutic resistance of cancer, which is driving development of compounds that inhibit Akt. Phosphatidylinositol ether lipid analogues (PIAs) are analogues of the products of PI3K that inhibit Akt activation, translocation, and the proliferation of a broad spectrum of cancer cell types. To gain insight into the mechanism of PIAs, time-dependent transcriptional profiling of 5 active PIAs and the PI3K inhibitor LY294002 (LY) was performed in NSCLC cells using high-density oligonucleotide arrays. Gene ontology analysis revealed genes involved in apoptosis, wounding response, and angiogenesis were upregulated by PIAs, while genes involved in DNA replication, repair and mitosis were suppressed. Genes that exhibited early differential expression were partitioned into 3 groups; those induced by PIAs only (DUSP1, KLF6, CENTD2, BHLHB2, PREX1), those commonly induced by PIAs and LY (TRIB1, KLF2, RHOB and CDKN1A), and those commonly suppressed by PIAs and LY (IGFBP3, PCNA, PRIM1, MCM3 and HSPA1B). Increased expression of the tumor suppressors RHOB (RhoB), KLF6 (COPEB) and CDKN1A (p21Cip1/Waf1) was validated as an Akt-independent effect that contributed to PIA-induced cytotoxicity. Despite some overlap with LY, active PIAs have a distinct expression signature that contributes to their enhanced cytotoxicity.