Palbociclib CDK4/6- and Crizotinib MET/ALK/ROS1-inhibitors Synergize to Enhance Senescence and Immune Recognition in Melanoma Cells Independently of BRAF / NRAS Status

“Pro-senescence therapy”, which triggers both permanent cell cycle arrest and an immune response, is a controversial new strategy for cancer treatment. To assess this strategy in melanoma, we performed a high throughput microscopy-based senescence screen utilizing a panel of melanoma cell lines with different driver mutations and a collection of clinical and experimental drugs. We found that vemurafenib and trametinib, which inhibit BRAF ^V600E and MEK1/2, respectively, induced senescence in some but not all BRAF-mutant cell lines. In contrast, palbociclib, BKM-120 and crizotinib, which inhibit CDK4/6, PI3K, and MET/ALK/ROS1, respectively, triggered senescence in most cell lines, irrespective of BRAF/NRAS mutation status, and overcame intrinsic and acquired vemurafenib resistance. The combination of palbociclib and crizotinib synergized to further enhance the senescence response in all cell lines irrespective of BRAF/NRAS mutation status, increased the expression of SASP factors, such as IL-1α and β, and HLA class I and other markers for recognition by NK and T cells. Further, this combination caused a significant increase in CD8+ T cells and pro-inflammatory macrophages in the tumor microenvironment and a marked reduction of mouse melanoma tumor growth that was dependent on CD8+ T cells, suggesting increased immune surveillance. Our findings suggest that pro-senescence therapy based on concomitant inhibition of both CDK4/6 and MET/ALK/ROS1 could be developed further as an alternative treatment strategy for melanoma.