The Combination of HSP90 Inhibitors and Selumetinib Reinforces the Inhibitory Effects on Plexiform Neurofibromas. Cancers (Basel) 2025 Jul 16;17(14)
Date
07/29/2025Pubmed ID
40723243Pubmed Central ID
PMC12293785DOI
10.3390/cancers17142359Scopus ID
2-s2.0-105011769892 (requires institutional sign-in at Scopus site)Abstract
Background/Objectives: Plexiform neurofibromas (pNFs) are one of the cardinal presentations of NF1 patients, often arising during early childhood. Since selumetinib was approved by the FDA in 2020, the long-term side effects and various responses of mitogen-activated protein kinase inhibitors (MEKi) in pediatric patients necessitate a new strategy. We propose that combining selumetinib with heat shock protein 90 inhibitors (HSP90i) can enhance the inhibitory effects as well as reduce the dosage of selumetinib in combination. We validated the synergistic effects and the significantly improved treatment effects of the combination of selumetinib and HSP90i in pNFs. Methods: We used drug screen data mining to predict the combination of selumetinib and HSP90i. Using cell lines and in vivo mouse models for pNFs, we tested a series of combinations with different concentrations. We validated the in vivo inhibitory effects using the transplanted tumors from DhhCreNf1f/f mouse models. Results: We demonstrated that combining selumetinib and SNX-2112 or retaspimycin can achieve better tumor inhibition with synergistic effects. The combination significantly delays the progression of mouse pNFs. Conclusions: The combination of selumetinib and HSP90i has significant synergistic effects, provides therapeutic inhibitor effects, and reduces the selumetinib dosage in combination.
Author List
Khan S, Aina O, Veneklasen X, Edens H, Alson D, Sun L, Zayed H, Njoya K, Sun DAuthors
Donia Alson Postdoctoral Researcher 2 in the Cell Biology, Neurobiology and Anatomy department at Medical College of WisconsinDaochun Sun PhD Assistant Professor in the Cell Biology, Neurobiology and Anatomy department at Medical College of Wisconsin
