Preclinical small molecule WEHI-7326 overcomes drug resistance and elicits response in patient-derived xenograft models of human treatment-refractory tumors.
Christoph GrohmannFrancesca WalkerMark DevlinMeng-Xiao LuoAnderly C ChüehJudy DohertyFrançois VaillantGwo-Yaw HoMatthew J WakefieldClare E WeedenAlvin KamiliJayne MurraySela T Po'uhaJanet WeinstockSerena R KaneMaree C FauxEsmee BroekhuizenYe ZhengKristy Shield-ArtinNadia J KershawChin Wee TanHelen M WitchardGregor EbertSusan A CharmanIan StreetMaria KavallarisMichelle HaberJamie I FletcherMarie-Liesse Asselin-LabatClare L ScottJane E VisvaderGeoffrey J LindemanKeith G WatsonAntony W BurgessGuillaume L LessenePublished in: Cell death & disease (2021)
Targeting cell division by chemotherapy is a highly effective strategy to treat a wide range of cancers. However, there are limitations of many standard-of-care chemotherapies: undesirable drug toxicity, side-effects, resistance and high cost. New small molecules which kill a wide range of cancer subtypes, with good therapeutic window in vivo, have the potential to complement the current arsenal of anti-cancer agents and deliver improved safety profiles for cancer patients. We describe results with a new anti-cancer small molecule, WEHI-7326, which causes cell cycle arrest in G2/M, cell death in vitro, and displays efficacious anti-tumor activity in vivo. WEHI-7326 induces cell death in a broad range of cancer cell lines, including taxane-resistant cells, and inhibits growth of human colon, brain, lung, prostate and breast tumors in mice xenografts. Importantly, the compound elicits tumor responses as a single agent in patient-derived xenografts of clinically aggressive, treatment-refractory neuroblastoma, breast, lung and ovarian cancer. In combination with standard-of-care, WEHI-7326 induces a remarkable complete response in a mouse model of high-risk neuroblastoma. WEHI-7326 is mechanistically distinct from known microtubule-targeting agents and blocks cells early in mitosis to inhibit cell division, ultimately leading to apoptotic cell death. The compound is simple to produce and possesses favorable pharmacokinetic and toxicity profiles in rodents. It represents a novel class of anti-cancer therapeutics with excellent potential for further development due to the ease of synthesis, simple formulation, moderate side effects and potent in vivo activity. WEHI-7326 has the potential to complement current frontline anti-cancer drugs and to overcome drug resistance in a wide range of cancers.
Keyphrases
- cell cycle arrest
- cell death
- small molecule
- endothelial cells
- mouse model
- pi k akt
- healthcare
- papillary thyroid
- single cell
- palliative care
- induced apoptosis
- prostate cancer
- protein protein
- cancer therapy
- drug delivery
- squamous cell
- induced pluripotent stem cells
- childhood cancer
- type diabetes
- quality improvement
- cell proliferation
- stem cells
- replacement therapy
- emergency department
- high intensity
- combination therapy
- multiple sclerosis
- squamous cell carcinoma
- metabolic syndrome
- endoplasmic reticulum stress
- skeletal muscle
- mesenchymal stem cells
- adipose tissue
- anti inflammatory
- rectal cancer
- lymph node metastasis
- benign prostatic hyperplasia
- insulin resistance