MEK Inhibition Overcomes Cisplatin Resistance Conferred by SOS/MAPK Pathway Activation in Squamous Cell Carcinoma (SCC)

Genomic analyses of SCC have yet to yield significant strategies against pathway activation to improve treatment. Platinum-based chemotherapy remains the mainstay of treatment for SCC of different histotypes either as a single agent or alongside other chemotherapeutic drugs or radiotherapy; however, resistance inevitably emerges, which limits the duration of treatment response. To elucidate mechanisms that mediate resistance to cisplatin, we compared drug-induced perturbations to gene expression between cisplatin-sensitive and -resistant SCC cells. Cisplatin-sensitive and -resistant SCC cells were identified through MTS assay. Gene expression profiling (Affymetrix GeneChip 1.0ST) was performed to identify putative genes and cellular pathways that may be associated with cellular response to cisplatin.