Sortilin exhibits tumor suppressor-like activity by limiting EGFR transducing function

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer deaths worldwide and remains one of the most incurable. Tyrosine kinase receptors, such as the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), are often aberrantly activated and drive tumor growth. Monotherapy with tyrosine kinase inhibitors to deactivate EGFR has shown initial efficacy, but their benefits tend to decline over time. EGFR acts as a transcriptional factor promoting the expression of co-oncogenic drivers, which, in turn, interact with canonical EGFR mutations to induce therapeutic relapse. This study reports that sortilin, a crucial regulator of cytoplasmic EGFR, attenuates its transducing function. Genome-wide chromatin binding revealed that sortilin interacts with gene regulatory elements occupied by EGFR. These results suggest a model, in which sortilin exhibits potential tumor suppressor-like activity by concurrently binding to regulatory elements of cMYC. Sortilin expression in lung adenocarcinoma may be predictive of the efficacy of anti-EGFR strategies.