Abstract 4056: ONC201 in combination with carboplatin and etoposide as a novel triple drug treatment for small cell lung cancer (SCLC)

Abstract

Abstract Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in both men and women according to the American Cancer Society, with more deaths than colon, breast, and prostate cancer combined. Small cell lung cancer (SCLC) comprises about 10 to 15 percent of all lung cancer diagnoses. Frequent loss of RB1 and mutations in p53 in SCLC make it rather difficult to develop targeted therapies. Many current therapies rely on toxic chemotherapy or immunotherapy to combat the aggressive nature of SCLC; however, even with the advent of new therapies, the median survival rate has remained relatively low at 12 to 16 months. SCLC is also characterized by a high mutation rate, resulting in patients becoming increasingly resistant to treatments. This calls for a novel combination to extend patient life expectancy. ONC201 is an imipridone that is currently in clinical trials for its proapoptotic effects in several cancer types. We propose that combining ONC201 with standard first-line chemotherapeutic agents etoposide and carboplatin will result in a synergistic effect and serve as a novel treatment plan for SCLC patients. SCLC cell lines H1048 and H1105 were treated with the novel triple drug combination ONC201, etoposide, and carboplatin. Cell-Titer Glo cell viability assays were conducted for 72 hours to see the additive and/or synergistic effect of novel triple drug treatment. Western blots were also run to evaluate the expression of proapoptotic protein cleaved PARP or expression of cellular metabolic stress protein ATF4 to explore the synergistic effect of triple drug treatments in SCLC cell lines. Cell viability after the triple drug treatment in both cell lines H1048 and H1105 may indicate a potential synergistic effect. Preliminary western results indicate that the triple drug treatment results in an increase in cPARP or ATF4 expression relative to the vehicle, suggesting a synergistic effect of the triple drug treatment. We are currently exploring the novel combination and potential underlying mechanisms behind the synergistic effects of the triple drug treatment. Future studies will evaluate this triple drug combination treatment in mouse models of SCLC. Citation Format: Young S. Lee, Lanlan Zhou, Christopher Azzoli, Wafik S. El-Deiry. ONC201 in combination with carboplatin and etoposide as a novel triple drug treatment for small cell lung cancer (SCLC) [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2022; 2022 Apr 8-13. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2022;82(12_Suppl):Abstract nr 4056.