Abstract
Colorectal cancer (CRC) is one of the most frequently diagnosed cancers worldwide. Development of novel chemotherapeutics is still required to enable successful treatment and improve survival for CRC patients. Here, we found that osimertinib (OSI) exhibits potent anti-CRC effects by inducing apoptosis, independent of its selective inhibitory activity targeting the EGFR T790M mutation. Intriguingly, OSI treatment triggers autophagic flux in CRC cells. Inhibition of autophagy markedly augments OSI-induced apoptosis and growth inhibition in CRC cells, suggesting a protective role of autophagy in response to OSI treatment. Mechanistically, OSI upregulates the expression of monocarboxylate transporter 1 (MCT1) and subsequently activates LKB1/AMPK signaling, leading to autophagy induction in CRC cells. Notably, OSI significantly exaggerates the sensitivity of CRC cells to the first-line drugs 5-fluorouracil or oxaliplatin. Taken together, our study unravels a novel mechanism of OSI-mediated protective autophagy involving MCT1/LKB1/AMPK signaling, and suggests the use of OSI as a potential agent for clinical CRC treatment.