PARPi in PCa results in decreased availability of DNA repair factors.

Abstract

301 Background: The first described roles for PARP-1 were in the repair of DNA damage and genomic maintenance, however, recent studies have identified PARP-1 as harboring critical context-dependent transcriptional regulatory functions in cancer, including regulating NFkB and HIF function. Our group recently discovered that PARP-1 enzymatic activity is a critical effector of AR function PCa, and assists in regulating AR-driven, PCa-associated phenotypes, including castrate-resistant AR function, tumor growth, and transition to CRPC. Additionally, recent clinical trial data of PARP inhibition as a single agent in advanced cancers has been promising. Given the preclinical and clinical data, pursuing a deeper understanding of the molecular underpinnings of PARP inhibitor action in PCa may yield markers of response and/or rationale for precision medicine. Methods: Hormone therapy-sensitive and CRPC models were transcriptionally profiled in response to PARP inhibition. Pathways were nominated for validation. Bioinformatics approaches were used to compare the PARP-1-sensitive transcritome with publicly available data sets. ChIP-qPCR was performed to examine the effect of PARPi on target genes of the nominated pathways. Patient specimen TMAs were utilized for PAR IHC. PARP inhibition reduced AR and E2F1 target gene expression, as well as significantly decreased expression of DNA repair genes. Both PARP enzymatic activity and the PARP-1-dependent transcriptional program are increased as a function of disease progression. Results: These data indicate that:(1) The PARPi-sensitive transcriptome holds major transcriptional regulatory events beyond AR signaling. (2) E2F1-regulated genes are sensitive to PARP-1 function. (3) The PARPi-sensitive E2F-regulated transcriptome is enriched for DNA repair factors. (4) PARP enzymatic and transcriptional functions are increased during disease progression. Conclusions: Taken together, this study demonstrates that the transcriptional roles of PARP-1 may contribute to the clinical response to PARP-1 inhibitors as single agents. This work was supported by a PCF YI award (to MJS).