Targeting AURKA-CDC25C axis to induce synthetic lethality in ARID1A-deficient colorectal cancer cells

ARID1A, a component of the SWI/SNF chromatin remodeling complex, is a tumor suppressor with a high frequency of inactivating mutations in many cancers. Therefore, ARID1A deficiency has been exploited therapeutically for treating cancer. Here we show that ARID1A has a synthetic lethal interaction with aurora kinase A (AURKA) in colorectal cancer (CRC) cells. Pharmacological and genetic perturbations of AURKA selectively inhibit the growth of ARID1A-deficient CRC cells. Mechanistically, ARID1A occupies the AURKA gene promoter and negatively regulates its transcription. Cells lacking ARID1A show enhanced AURKA transcription, which leads to the persistent activation of CDC25C, a key protein for G2/M transition and mitotic entry. Inhibiting AURKA activity in ARID1A-deficient cells significantly increases G2/M arrest and induces cellular multinucleation and apoptosis. This study shows a novel synthetic lethality interaction between ARID1A and AURKA and indicates that pharmacologically inhibiting the AURKA–CDC25C axis represents a novel strategy for treating CRC with ARID1A loss-of-function mutations. ARID1A is highly inactivated in cancer. Here, the authors show that ARID1A has a synthetic lethal interaction with AURKA in colorectal cancer cells and that ARID1A deficiency activates the AURKA target CDC25C, whose inhibitors also cause cell death in the ARID1A-deficient cell lines.