RAF inhibitors activate the integrated stress response by direct activation of GCN2

Paradoxical activation of wild type RAF by chemical RAF inhibitors (RAFi) is a well-understood ‘on-target’ biological and clinical response. In this study, we show that a range of RAFi drive ERK1/2-independent activation of the Unfolded Protein Response (UPR), including expression of ATF4 and CHOP, that requires the translation initiation factor eIF2α. RAFi-induced ATF4 and CHOP expression was not reversed by inhibition of PERK, a known upstream activator of the eIF2α-dependent Integrated Stress Response (ISR). Rather, RAFi exposure activated GCN2, an alternate eIF2α kinase, leading to eIF2α-dependent (and ERK1/2-independent) ATF4 and CHOP expression. The GCN2 kinase inhibitor A-92, GCN2 RNAi, GCN2 knock-out or ISRIB (an eIF2α antagonist) all reversed RAFi-induced expression of ATF4 and CHOP indicating that RAFi require GCN2 to activate the ISR. RAFi also activated full-length recombinant GCN2 in vitro and in cells, generating a characteristic ‘bell-shaped’ concentration-response curve, reminiscent of RAFi-driven paradoxical activation of WT RAF dimers. Activation of the ISR by RAFi was abolished by a GCN2 kinase dead mutation. A M802A GCN2 gatekeeper mutant was activated at lower RAFi concentrations, demonstrating that RAFi bind directly to the GCN2 kinase domain; this is supported by mechanistic structural models of RAFi interaction with GCN2. Since the ISR is a critical pathway for determining cell survival or death, our observations may be relevant to the clinical use of RAFi, where paradoxical GCN2 activation is a previously unappreciated off-target effect that may modulate tumour cell responses.