Abstract 2925: Anti-tumor activity of a MYC-targeting dicer substrate siRNA in combination with BRD4/CDK7 inhibitors

Abstract

Abstract MYC is a well-characterized driver of numerous tumor types. Since the protein encoded by this gene is challenging to target via conventional modalities, progress in new therapeutic agents has been slow despite decades of research. RNA interference technology has enabled the inhibition of previously-undruggable genetic targets at the mRNA level, and has advanced to clinical development for several indications. DCR-MYC, a lipid nanoparticle (LNP)-formulated Dicer substrate siRNA (DsiRNA) targeting MYC mRNA, is currently in Phase Ib/II clinical trials and showing promising results. In this study we used an improved EnCore LNP and MYC DsiRNA, which demonstrated MYC mRNA silencing activity and efficacy in mouse models of human hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Small molecule inhibitors that target BRD4; JQ1 and CDK7; THZ1 has previously reported anti-proliferative effects in various cancer types and efficacy in several tumor mouse models including HCC. Treatment with both JQ1 and THZ1 induced cell cycle arrest and apoptosis in various cancer cells by repressing MYC expression. Here we observed striking anti-proliferative effects in vitro when MYC-DsiRNA was combined with THZ1 in cancer cells. In addition, when mice bearing HCC tumors were treated with MYC-DsiRNA combined with either THZ1 or JQ1, the antitumor efficacy was additive or synergistic relative to either single agent alone. We observed significantly more MYC mRNA knockdown in the tumors that had the combination treatment compared to the tumors that received either of the single agent treatment. These preclinical data suggests the possibility of a significant and practical benefit of combining MYC-DsiRNA and small molecule inhibitors that target an epigenetic regulator BRD4 (JQ1) and a global gene regulator CDK7 (THZ1). Citation Format: Edmond Chipumuro, Zakir Siddiquee, Shanthi Ganesh, Serena Shui, Anee Shah, Boyoung Kim, Dongyu Chen, Purva Pandya, Rachel Storr, Weimin Wang, Hank Dudek, Cheng Lai, Marc Abrams, Bob Brown. Anti-tumor activity of a MYC-targeting dicer substrate siRNA in combination with BRD4/CDK7 inhibitors. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 107th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2016 Apr 16-20; New Orleans, LA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2016;76(14 Suppl):Abstract nr 2925.