Abstract 6308: Antitumor effects of RBPJ Inhibitor-1 on osteosarcoma cells

Abstract

Abstract Osteosarcoma (OS) is the most common primary malignancy of the bone in adolescents and children with limited treatment options. Drug resistance to current therapy together with severe side effects urgently calls for alternative treatment strategies targeting critical cancer signaling pathways. Recently, our and other studies suggest that hyperactivation of Notch signaling contributes to the pathogenesis of human and murine OS, and its inhibition may be a therapeutic approach for the treatment of OS. Notch pathophysiological activity involves activated Notch (i.e. NICD, the notch intracellular domain) forming a nuclear complex with DNA-binding factors and coactivators such as recombination signal binding protein for immunoglobulin kappa J region (RBPJ). This evolutionary conserved mechanism is involved in the maintenance and survival of cancer stem cells, which can govern various cell activities like metastasis and chemoresistance. This study aims to examine the in vitro effects of targeting the NICD-RBPJ interaction using a small molecular inhibitor of the RBPJ (RIN1) on osteosarcoma cell lines. We found that treatment of 10 µM RIN1 on SJSA-1 (ATCC, CRL-2098), a human osteosarcoma cell line with a high Notch activity, can significantly decrease cell proliferation at 48 and 72 hours (h). We also found that at 10 µM of RIN1 affects SJSA-1 migration using a Boyden chamber-based cell system at 24 h, a time point where we find minimal contribution from an effect on cell proliferation. Treatment with RIN1 can block SJSA-1 clonogenicity, but we showed that it has limited ability to block SJSA-1 cell invasion. Treatment with RIN1 does not initiate or enhance the osteoblast-like differentiation of SJSA-1. Notch target genes HEY1 and CyclinD1 was significantly modulated in SJSA-1 cells upon treatment in a Notch-independent manner. Interestingly, treatment with RIN1 on SJSA-1 decreases SOX2 protein expression, a well-known cancer stem cell marker, and upregulates tumor suppressor RB1 protein expression. Ongoing studies include additional cellular function assays and RNA-seq transcriptomic analysis of RIN1’s effect on two Notch-dependent cancer cell lines including MB 157 (ATCC, CRL-7721) and T29 in its activating context. In summary, RIN1 has been shown to have a significant effect on the different cell behaviors of human osteosarcoma, which may eventually facilitate with the treatment of patients that have metastatic disease. Citation Format: Dakota Callahan, Leetoria Hinojosa, Haydee M. Torres, Jianning Tao. Antitumor effects of RBPJ Inhibitor-1 on osteosarcoma cells [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 6308.