Erlotinib (OSI-774)

96-well plates are coated by incubation overnight at 37 °C with 100 μL per well of 0.25 mg/mL PGT in PBS. Excess PGT is removed by aspiration, and the plate is washed 3 times with washing buffer (0.1% Tween 20 in PBS). The kinase reaction is performed in 50 μL of 50 mM HEPES (pH 7.3), containing 125 mM sodium chloride, 24 mM magnesium chloride, 0.1 mM sodium orthovanadate, 20 μM ATP, 1.6 μg/mL EGF, and 15 ng of EGFR, affinity purified from A431 cell membranes. Erlotinib HCl in DMSO is added to give a final DMSO concentration of 2.5%. Phosphorylation is initiated by addition of ATP and proceeded for 8 minutes at room temperature, with constant shaking. The kinase reaction is terminated by aspiration of the reaction mixture and is washed 4 times with washing buffer. Phosphorylated PGT is measured by 25 minutes of incubation with 50 μL per well HRP-conjugated PY54 antiphosphotyrosine antibody, diluted to 0.2 μg/mL in blocking buffer (3% BSA and 0.05% Tween 20 in PBS). Antibody is removed by aspiration, and the plate is washed 4 times with washing buffer. The colorimetric signal is developed by addition of TMB Microwell Peroxidase Substrate, 50μL per well, and stopped by the addition of 0.09 M sulfuric acid, 50 μL per well. Phosphotyrosine is estimated by measurement of absorbance at 450 nm. The signal for controls is typically 0.6-1.2 absorbance units, with essentially no back ground in wells without AlP, EGFR, or PGT and is proportional to the time of incubation for 10 minutes.

Exponentially growing cells are seeded in 96-well plastic plates and exposed to serial dilutions of erlotinib, pemetrexed, or the combination at a constant concentration ratio of 4:1 in triplicates for 72 h. Cell viability is assayed by cell count and the 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide assay. Growth inhibition is expressed as the percentage of surviving cells in drug-treated versus PBS-treated control cells (which is considered as 100% viability). The IC50 value is the concentration resulting in 50% cell growth inhibition by a 72-h exposure to drug(s) compared with untreated control cells and is calculated by the CalcuSyn software.