Title
Identification of novel therapeutic targets for fibrolamellar carcinoma using patient-derived xenografts and direct-from-patient screening
Date Issued
01 January 2021
Access level
open access
Resource Type
journal article
Author(s)
Lalazar G.
Ramos-Espiritu L.
Ng D.
Bhola P.D.
de Jong Y.P.
Wang R.
Narayan N.J.C.
Shebl B.
Levin S.
Michailidis E.
Kabbani M.
Vercauteren K.O.A.
Hurley A.M.
Farber B.A.
Hammond W.J.
Saltsman J.A.
Weinberg E.M.
Glickman J.F.
Lyons B.A.
Ellison J.
Schadde E.
Hertl M.
Leiting J.L.
Truty M.J.
Smoot R.L.
Tierney F.
Kato T.
Wendel H.G.
Laquaglia M.P.
Rice C.M.
Letai A.
Coffino P.
Torbenson M.S.
Ortiz M.V.
Simon S.M.
The Rockefeller University
Publisher(s)
American Association for Cancer Research Inc.
Abstract
To repurpose therapeutics for fibrolamellar carcinoma (FLC), we developed and validated patient-derived xenografts (PDX) from surgical resections. Most agents used clinically and inhibitors of oncogenes overexpressed in FLC showed little efficacy on PDX. A highthroughput functional drug screen found primary and metastatic FLC were vulnerable to clinically available inhibitors of TOPO1 and HDAC and to napabucasin. Napabucasin’s efficacy was mediated through reactive oxygen species and inhibition of translation initiation, and specific inhibition of eIF4A was effective. The sensitivity of each PDX line inversely correlated with expression of the antiapoptotic protein Bcl-xL, and inhibition of Bcl-xL synergized with other drugs. Screening directly on cells dissociated from patient resections validated these results. This demonstrates that a direct functional screen on patient tumors provides therapeutically informative data within a clinically useful time frame. Identifying these novel therapeutic targets and combination therapies is an urgent need, as effective therapeutics for FLC are currently unavailable. SIGNIFICANCE: Therapeutics informed by genomics have not yielded effective therapies for FLC. A functional screen identified TOPO1, HDAC inhibitors, and napabucasin as efficacious and synergistic with inhibition of Bcl-xL. Validation on cells dissociated directly from patient tumors demonstrates the ability for functional precision medicine in a solid tumor.
Start page
2544
End page
2563
Volume
11
Issue
10
Language
English
OCDE Knowledge area
Farmacología, Farmacia
Oncología
Scopus EID
2-s2.0-85118096592
PubMed ID
Source
Cancer Discovery
ISSN of the container
21598274
Sponsor(s)
We are grateful for the support from the NIH for grants P50CA210964 (S.M. Simon and M.S. Torbenson), U54CA243126 (S.M. Simon), R01CA205967-04S2 (S.M. Simon and A. Letai), the Starr Foundation grant I11-0050 (to S.M. Simon and A. Letai), K12CA184746 (M.V. Ortiz), P30CA008748 (M.P. LaQuaglia, M.V. Ortiz, N.J.C. Narayan, B.A. Farber, W.J. Hammond, and J.A. Saltsman), R01DK085713 (C.M. Rice), R01AA027327 (Y.P. de Jong), F32DK107164 (E. Michailidis), and fellowships KA4688/1-1 from the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (M. Kabbani) and the Belgian American Educational Foundation (K.O. Vercauteren). Further support was provided by the Robertson Therapeutic Development Fund (S.M. Simon, E. Michailidis, and C.M. Rice) and by the Center for Basic and Translational Research on Disorders of the Digestive System through the generosity of the Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust (G. Lalazar, S.M. Simon, and E. Michailidis). This publication was supported in part by the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences, NIH, through Rockefeller University,
G. Lalazar reports grants from NIH, the Starr Foundation, the Robertson Therapeutic Development Fund, the Center for Basic and Translational Research on Disorders of the Digestive System through the generosity of the Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust, Sohn Foundation, Rally Foundation, The Bear Necessities, and The Truth365 during the conduct of the study; personal fees from Pluristem Therapeutics, Immuron Ltd., and Guidepoint outside the submitted work; in addition, G. Lalazar has a patent for Novel Therapeutic Targets in Fibrolamellar Hepatocellular Carcinoma identified in high-throughput screens of PDX and direct-from-patient tissue pending to The Rockefeller University. D. Requena reports grants from NIH, Starr Foundation, Robertson Fund, Sohn Foundation, Rally Foundation, Leona M. and Harry B. Helsmley Charitable Trust, Bear Necessities, and The Truth 365 during the conduct of the study. D. Ng reports grants from Starr Foundation, Robertson Fund, Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust, Sohn Foundation, Rally Foundation, Bear Necessities, and The Truth 365 during the conduct of the study. P.D. Bhola reports personal fees from Magenta Therapeutics outside the submitted work. M. Kabbani reports grants and personal fees from DFG during the conduct of the study. B.A. Farber reports grants from NIH, Starr Foundation, Robertson Fund, Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust, Sohn Foundation, Rally Foundation, Bear Necessities, and The Truth 365 during the conduct of the study. W.J. Hammond reports grants from NIH, Starr Foundation, Robertson Fund, Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust, Sohn Foundation, Rally Foundation, Bear Necessities, and The Truth 365 during the conduct of the study. R.L. Smoot reports personal fees from Astra Zeneca outside the submitted work. A. Letai reports personal fees from Flash Therapeutics, Dialectic, Zentalis Pharmaceuticals, and grants from Novartis outside the submitted work; in addition, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, A. Letai’s employer, has a portfolio of patents covering BH3 profiling. P. Coffino reports grants from NIH, Robertson Fund, Helmsley Charitable Trust, Sohn Foundation, Rally Foundation, and The Truth 365 during the conduct of the study. M.S. Torbenson reports grants from NIH during the conduct of the study. No disclosures were reported by the other authors.
Grant #UL1TR001866. We are grateful to the staff and leadership of The Rockefeller University Hospital. These projects were initiated by critical seed funds from private foundations, and we are grateful for the support by the Sohn Foundation (S.M. Simon), the Rally Foundation (S.M. Simon, J.A. Saltsman, and W.J. Hammond), The Bear Necessities (S.M. Simon, J.A. Saltsman, and W.J. Hammond), The Truth365 (S.M. Simon, J.A. Saltsman, and W.J. Hammond), and Cannonball Kids’ Cancer (M.V. Ortiz). Most importantly, we would like to thank all of the patients with fibrolamellar carcinoma, and their caregivers, who have contributed in too many ways to enumerate.
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