The inhibition of Akt-Pdpk1 interaction efficiently suppresses the growth of murine primary liver tumor cells

The lack of primary liver tumor cells has hampered testing of potential chemotherapeutic agents in vitro. To overcome this issue we developed a primary mouse liver tumor cell line K07074. The K07074 cells were immortal, exhibited a biliary phenotype, formed colonies in soft agar and displayed an increase in Hedgehog, Notch and Akt signaling. To study the effect of single and combined inhibition of the liver tumor-related pathways on the growth of K07074 cells we treated these with small-molecule antitumor agents. While the inhibition of Akt and Notch pathways strongly inhibited the growth of K07074 cells the inhibition of Wnt and Hedgehog pathways was less efficient in cell growth suppression. Interestingly, the inhibition of Akt pathway at the level of Akt-Pdpk1 interaction was sufficient to suppress the growth of tumor cells and no significant additive effect could be detected when co-treated with the inhibitors of Wnt, Hedgehog or Notch pathways. Only when suboptimal doses of Akt-Pdpk1 interaction inhibitor NSC156529 were used an additive effect with Notch inhibition was seen. We conclude that the Akt pathway inhibitor NSC156529 is potentially useful as single treatment for liver tumors with hyperactivated Akt signaling.