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A First-in-Class TWIST1 Inhibitor with Activity in Oncogene-Driven Lung Cancer.

ABSTRACT: TWIST1, an epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) transcription factor, is critical for oncogene-driven non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) tumorigenesis. Given the potential of TWIST1 as a therapeutic target, a chemical-bioinformatic approach using connectivity mapping (CMAP) analysis was used to identify TWIST1 inhibitors. Characterization of the top ranked candidates from the unbiased screen revealed that harmine, a harmala alkaloid, inhibited multiple TWIST1 functions, including single-cell dissemination, suppression of normal branching in 3D epithelial culture, and proliferation of oncogene driver-defined NSCLC cells. Harmine treatment phenocopied genetic loss of TWIST1 by inducing oncogene-induced senescence or apoptosis. Mechanistic investigation revealed that harmine targeted the TWIST1 pathway through its promotion of TWIST1 protein degradation. As dimerization is critical for TWIST1 function and stability, the effect of harmine on specific TWIST1 dimers was examined. TWIST1 and its dimer partners, the E2A proteins, which were found to be required for TWIST1-mediated functions, regulated the stability of the other heterodimeric partner posttranslationally. Harmine preferentially promoted degradation of the TWIST1-E2A heterodimer compared with the TWIST-TWIST1 homodimer, and targeting the TWIST1-E2A heterodimer was required for harmine cytotoxicity. Finally, harmine had activity in both transgenic and patient-derived xenograft mouse models of KRAS-mutant NSCLC. These studies identified harmine as a first-in-class TWIST1 inhibitor with marked anti-tumor activity in oncogene-driven NSCLC including EGFR mutant, KRAS mutant and MET altered NSCLC.Implications: TWIST1 is required for oncogene-driven NSCLC tumorigenesis and EMT; thus, harmine and its analogues/derivatives represent a novel therapeutic strategy to treat oncogene-driven NSCLC as well as other solid tumor malignancies. Mol Cancer Res; 15(12); 1764-76. ©2017 AACR.

SUBMITTER: Yochum ZA

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5712248 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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A First-in-Class TWIST1 Inhibitor with Activity in Oncogene-Driven Lung Cancer.

Yochum Zachary A ZA Cades Jessica J Mazzacurati Lucia L Neumann Neil M NM Khetarpal Susheel K SK Chatterjee Suman S Wang Hailun H Attar Myriam A MA Huang Eric H-B EH Chatley Sarah N SN Nugent Katriana K Somasundaram Ashwin A Engh Johnathan A JA Ewald Andrew J AJ Cho Yoon-Jae YJ Rudin Charles M CM Tran Phuoc T PT Burns Timothy F TF

Molecular cancer research : MCR 20170829 12

TWIST1, an epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) transcription factor, is critical for oncogene-driven non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) tumorigenesis. Given the potential of TWIST1 as a therapeutic target, a chemical-bioinformatic approach using connectivity mapping (CMAP) analysis was used to identify TWIST1 inhibitors. Characterization of the top ranked candidates from the unbiased screen revealed that harmine, a harmala alkaloid, inhibited multiple TWIST1 functions, including single-cell ...[more]

PMID: 28851812

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Project description:Recent studies reveal that a subset of cancers in various indications are dependent on high and constant expression of certain transcription factors for growth and survival, a phenomenon termed as transcriptional addiction. Therefore, targeting transcriptional machinery can potentially lead to potent and selective anticancer effects. CDK7 is the catalytic subunit of the CDK-activating kinase (CAK) complex. Its function is required for both cell cycle regulation and transcriptional control of gene expression. CDK7 has recently emerged as an attractive target in cancer since its inhibition leads to decrease of the transcript levels of oncogenic transcription factors, especially those associated with super-enhancers (SEs). Here we describe a first-in-class CDK7 inhibitor SY-1365, which covalently targets a cysteine outside the kinase domain, resulting in sustained, highly selective inhibition of CDK7. In vitro studies reveal that SY-1365 has potency in a wide range of cancer models with low micromolar IC50 values. Cancer cells with low BCL-XL expression are found to be more dependent on MCL1 for survival and therefore particularly sensitive towards SY-1365 treatment since SY-1365 downregulates MCL1 protein level. SY-1365 treatment induces distinct transcriptional changes in acute myeloid leukemia (AML) cell lines. SY-1365 also demonstrates substantial anti-tumor effects in multiple AML xenograft models. Additionally, combination treatment with venetoclax shows synergistic effects in AML models both in vitro and in vivo. Our findings support targeting CDK7 as a new approach for treating transcriptionally addicted cancers. SY-1365 is currently being assessed in a Phase I trial in adult patients (NCT03134638) We performed microarray based expression profiling to quantify transcriptional changes upon treatment with the CDK7 inhibitor, SY-1365 and to compare it to transcriptional changes induced by treatment with other transcriptional drugs JQ1 (BRD4 inhibitor), NVP2 (CDK9 inhibitor) and flavopiridol (pan-CDK inhibitor). We profiled a human acute myeloid leukemia (AML) cell line THP-1. Cells were treated with either DMSO, 100nm SY-1365, 25nM NVP2 , 250nM JQ1 or 200nM flavopiridol for two and six hours. All samples were prepared in biological triplicate.

Dataset Information

A First-in-Class TWIST1 Inhibitor with Activity in Oncogene-Driven Lung Cancer.

Publications

A First-in-Class TWIST1 Inhibitor with Activity in Oncogene-Driven Lung Cancer.

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