Abstract 1879: Dual function HDAC and PI3K inhibitor, CUDC-907 affects cancer cells and the tumor microenvironment in hematological malignancies

Abstract

Abstract Histone deacetylases (HDACs) and the phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K)/AKT pathway are promising therapeutic targets in hematologic cancers and evidence of synergistic anti-cancer activity has recently emerged. CUDC-907, a small molecule drug candidate that is designed to target HDACs and PI3Ks in a single chemical entity, is currently in Phase 1 clinical testing for the treatment of patients with lymphoma or multiple myeloma. Preclinically, CUDC-907 has been shown to inhibit activation of PI3K/AKT, JAK/STAT and MAPK pathways in hematologic cancer cell lines such as Hodgkin's lymphoma, diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, and multiple myeloma. In this study, we report that in the setting of hematological malignancies, CUDC-907 targets not only the cancer cells but also the tumor microenvironment. Cytotoxicity against primary CLL cells was independent of the protective effects provided by stromal cells when primary CLL cells were co-cultured with nurse-like cells. CUDC-907 was shown in vitro to impair cytokine and chemokine production by immune cells in the tumor microenvironment and by Hodgkin's lymphoma cells. The ongoing first-in-human Phase 1 clinical study of CUDC-907 has yielded preliminary evidence of anti-cancer activity and impact on the tumor microenvironment as measured by cytokine and chemokine levels (e.g., thymus and activation regulated chemokine [TARC]). Ongoing analyses are probing the potential utility of selected cytokine and chemokine as predictive markers of CUDC-907 activity. Citation Format: Anna W. Ma, Ruzanna Atoyan, Anas Younes, Ian W. Flinn, Yasuhiro Oki, Amanda Copeland, Jesus G. Berdeja, Robert Laliberte, Jaye Viner, Maria Elena S. Samson, Steven Dellarocca, Ling Yi, Mylissa Borek, Brian Zifcak, Guangxin Xu, Jing Wang. Dual function HDAC and PI3K inhibitor, CUDC-907 affects cancer cells and the tumor microenvironment in hematological malignancies. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 105th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2014 Apr 5-9; San Diego, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2014;74(19 Suppl):Abstract nr 1879. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2014-1879