Synthetic gene circuits that selectively target RAS-driven cancers

Abstract

Therapies targeting mutated rat sarcoma (RAS), the most frequently mutated oncogene in human cancers, could benefit millions of patients. Recently approved RAS inhibitors represent a breakthrough but are limited to a specific KRAS G12C mutation and prone to resistance. Synthetic gene circuits offer a promising alternative by sensing and integrating cancer-specific biomolecular inputs, including mutated RAS, to selectively express therapeutic proteins in cancer cells. A key challenge for these circuits is achieving high cancer selectivity to prevent toxicity in healthy cells. To address this challenge, we present a novel approach combining multiple RAS sensors into RAS-targeting gene circuits, which allowed us to express an output protein in cells with mutated RAS with unprecedented selectivity. We implemented a modular design strategy and modeled the impact of individual circuit components on output expression. This enabled cell-line-specific adaptation of the circuits to optimize selectivity and fine-tune expression. We further demonstrate the targeting capabilities of the circuits by employing them in different RAS-driven cancer cells and provide evidence for their therapeutic potential by linking them to the expression of a clinically relevant output protein, which induced robust killing of cancer cells with mutated RAS. This work highlights the potential of synthetic gene circuits as a novel therapeutic strategy for RAS-driven cancers, advancing the application of synthetic biology in oncology.