- Nanjo, Shigeki;
- Wu, Wei;
- Karachaliou, Niki;
- Blakely, Collin M;
- Suzuki, Junji;
- Chou, Yu-Ting;
- Ali, Siraj M;
- Kerr, D Lucas;
- Olivas, Victor R;
- Shue, Jonathan;
- Rotow, Julia;
- Mayekar, Manasi K;
- Haderk, Franziska;
- Chatterjee, Nilanjana;
- Urisman, Anatoly;
- Yeo, Jia Chi;
- Skanderup, Anders J;
- Tan, Aaron C;
- Tam, Wai Leong;
- Arrieta, Oscar;
- Hosomichi, Kazuyoshi;
- Nishiyama, Akihiro;
- Yano, Seiji;
- Kirichok, Yuriy;
- Tan, Daniel SW;
- Rosell, Rafael;
- Okimoto, Ross A;
- Bivona, Trever G
Molecularly targeted cancer therapy has improved outcomes for patients with cancer with targetable oncoproteins, such as mutant EGFR in lung cancer. Yet, the long-term survival of these patients remains limited, because treatment responses are typically incomplete. One potential explanation for the lack of complete and durable responses is that oncogene-driven cancers with activating mutations of EGFR often harbor additional co-occurring genetic alterations. This hypothesis remains untested for most genetic alterations that co-occur with mutant EGFR. Here, we report the functional impact of inactivating genetic alterations of the mRNA splicing factor RNA-binding motif 10 (RBM10) that co-occur with mutant EGFR. RBM10 deficiency decreased EGFR inhibitor efficacy in patient-derived EGFR-mutant tumor models. RBM10 modulated mRNA alternative splicing of the mitochondrial apoptotic regulator Bcl-x to regulate tumor cell apoptosis during treatment. Genetic inactivation of RBM10 diminished EGFR inhibitor-mediated apoptosis by decreasing the ratio of (proapoptotic) Bcl-xS to (antiapoptotic) Bcl-xL isoforms of Bcl-x. RBM10 deficiency was a biomarker of poor response to EGFR inhibitor treatment in clinical samples. Coinhibition of Bcl-xL and mutant EGFR overcame the resistance induced by RBM10 deficiency. This study sheds light on the role of co-occurring genetic alterations and on the effect of splicing factor deficiency on the modulation of sensitivity to targeted kinase inhibitor cancer therapy.