- Rehman, Hasibur;
- Chandrashekar, Darshan;
- Balabhadrapatruni, Chakravarthi;
- Nepal, Saroj;
- Balasubramanya, Sai;
- Shelton, Abigail;
- Skinner, Kasey;
- Ma, Ai-Hong;
- Rao, Ting;
- Agarwal, Sumit;
- Eich, Marie-Lisa;
- Robinson, Alyncia;
- Naik, Gurudatta;
- Manne, Upender;
- Netto, George;
- Miller, C;
- Pan, Chong-Xian;
- Sonpavde, Guru;
- Varambally, Sooryanarayana;
- Ferguson, James
Metastatic urothelial carcinoma is generally incurable with current systemic therapies. Chromatin modifiers are frequently mutated in bladder cancer, with ARID1A-inactivating mutations present in about 20% of tumors. EZH2, a histone methyltransferase, acts as an oncogene that functionally opposes ARID1A. In addition, PI3K signaling is activated in more than 20% of bladder cancers. Using a combination of in vitro and in vivo data, including patient-derived xenografts, we show that ARID1A-mutant tumors were more sensitive to EZH2 inhibition than ARID1A WT tumors. Mechanistic studies revealed that (a) ARID1A deficiency results in a dependency on PI3K/AKT/mTOR signaling via upregulation of a noncanonical PI3K regulatory subunit, PIK3R3, and downregulation of MAPK signaling and (b) EZH2 inhibitor sensitivity is due to upregulation of PIK3IP1, a protein inhibitor of PI3K signaling. We show that PIK3IP1 inhibited PI3K signaling by inducing proteasomal degradation of PIK3R3. Furthermore, ARID1A-deficient bladder cancer was sensitive to combination therapies with EZH2 and PI3K inhibitors in a synergistic manner. Thus, our studies suggest that bladder cancers with ARID1A mutations can be treated with inhibitors of EZH2 and/or PI3K and revealed mechanistic insights into the role of noncanonical PI3K constituents in bladder cancer biology.