CDK4/6 inhibitors promote PARP1 degradation and act synergistically with PARP inhibitors in non-small cell lung cancer

Abstract Despite the widespread deregulation of CDK4/6 activity in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), the clinical trials with CDK4/6 inhibitors (CDK4/6is) as a monotherapy have shown poor antitumor activity. However, our preclinical studies have revealed a significant potential for CDK4/6is to collaborate by influencing DNA damage repair pathways during radiotherapy. Given the considerable upregulation of PARP1 expression in NSCLC, we analyzed the efficacy of combined PARP and CDK4/6 inhibition in NSCLC models. Our findings demonstrate that CDK4/6is synergize with PARP inhibitors (PARPis) to inhibit the clonogenic growth of RB-proficient NSCLC models. This synergy is associated with increased accumulation of DNA damage, interrupted cell-cycle checkpoints, and enhanced apoptotic cell death. We showed that CDK4/6is mechanically promote PARP1 protein degradation, leading to decreased availability of DNA repair factors involved in homologous recombination and suppression of DNA repair competency. Furthermore, we showed that PARP trapping is required for this synergy. We then confirmed that combining PARPi and CDK4/6i blocked the growth of NSCLC xenografts in vivo and patient-derived explant models ex vivo. These findings reveal a previously uncharacterized impact of CDK4/6i on PARP1 levels in RB-proficient NSCLC models and the requirement of PARP trapping to render synergy between CDK4/6i and PARPi. Our research suggests that combining CDK4/6i with PARPi could be a promising therapeutic strategy for patients with RB-proficient NSCLC, potentially opening up new and more effective avenues for treatment.