As an alternative therapeutic treatment to reduce or eliminate the current side effects associated with advanced prostate cancer (PCa) chemotherapy, a multifunctional double-receptor-targeting iron oxide nanoparticles (IONPs) (luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone receptor [LHRH-R] peptide- and urokinase-type plasminogen activator receptor [uPAR] peptide-targeted iron oxide nanoparticles, LHRH-AE105-IONPs) drug delivery system was developed. Two tumor-targeting peptides guided this double-receptor-targeting nanoscale drug delivery system. These peptides targeted the LHRH-R and the uPAR on PCa cells. Dynamic light scattering showed an increase in the hydrodynamic size of the LHRH-AE105-IONPs in comparison to the non-targeted iron oxide nanoparticles (NT-IONPs). Surface analysis showed that there was a decrease in the zeta potential values for drug-loaded LHRH-AE105-IONPs compared to the NT-IONPs. Prussian blue staining demonstrated that the LHRH-AE105-IONPs were internalized efficiently by the human PCa cell line, PC-3. In vitro, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) results confirmed the preferential binding and accumulation of LHRH-AE105-IONPs in PC-3 cells compared to normal prostate epithelial cells (RC77N/E). The results also showed that LHRH-AE105-IONPs significantly maintained T 2 MRI contrast effects and reduced T 2 values upon internalization by PC-3 cells. These paclitaxel-loaded double-receptor-targeting IONPs also showed an approximately twofold reduction in PC-3 cell viability compared to NT-IONPs.

The use of digital pathology for the histomorphologic profiling of pathological specimens is expanding the precision and specificity of quantitative tissue analysis at an unprecedented scale; thus, enabling the discovery of new and functionally relevant histological features of both predictive and prognostic significance. In this study, we apply quantitative automated image processing and computational methods to profile the subcellular distribution of the multi-functional transcriptional regulator, Kaiso (ZBTB33), in the tumors of a large racially diverse breast cancer cohort from a designated health disparities region in the United States. Multiplex multivariate analysis of the association of Kaiso’s subcellular distribution with other breast cancer biomarkers reveals novel functional and predictive linkages between Kaiso and the autophagy-related proteins, LC3A/B, that are associated with features of the tumor immune microenvironment, survival, and race. These findings identify effective modalities of Kaiso biomarker assessment and uncover unanticipated insights into Kaiso’s role in breast cancer progression.

Activated M2 polarized macrophages are drivers of pulmonary fibrosis in several clinical scenarios such as Acute Respiratory Disease Syndrome (ARDS) and Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis (IPF), through the production of inflammatory and fibrosis-inducing cytokines. In this study, we investigated the effect of targeting the CD206 receptor with a novel fragment of a Host Defense Peptide (HDP), RP-832c to decrease cytokines that cause fibrosis. RP-832c selectively binds to CD206 on M2 polarized bone marrow derived macrophages (BMDM) in vitro, resulting in a time-dependent decrease in CD206 expression, and a transient increase in M1 marker TNFα, which resolves over a 24hr period. To elucidate the antifibrotic effect of RP-832c, we used a murine model of bleomycin (BLM) -induced early-stage pulmonary fibrosis. RP-832c significantly reduced bleomycin-induced fibrosis in a dosage dependent manner, as well as decreased CD206, TGF-β1 and α-SMA expression in mouse lungs. Interestingly we did not observe any changes in the resident alveolar macrophage marker CD170 expression. Similarly, in an established model of lung fibrosis, RP-832c significantly decreased fibrosis in the lung, as well as significantly decreased inflammatory cytokines TNFα, IL-6, IL-10, INF-γ, CXCL1/2, and fibrosis markers TGF-β1 and MMP-13. In comparison with FDA approved drugs, Nintedanib and Pirfenidone, RP-832c exhibited a similar reduction in fibrosis compared to Pirfenidone, and to a greater extent than Nintedanib, with no apparent toxicities observed on body weight or blood chemistry. In summary, RP-832c is a potential agent to mitigate the overactivity of M2 macrophages in pathogenesis several pulmonary fibrotic diseases, including SARS-CoV-2 induced lung fibrosis.

3534 Background: The epigenetic transcriptional regulator, Kaiso (ZBTB33) has been identified as a member of the C2H2 zinc finger proteins containing a BTB/POZ -zinc finger family of transcription factors that are implicated in development of cancer. Although, our understanding of clinical relevance of subcellular distribution (cytoplasmic/nuclear) Kaiso in the growth and survival of human Breast cancer (BC) is limited. Methods: We examined a cohort of 555 BC patients who underwent surgery for their primary BC in Greenville, NC using AI and SM approach. Results: The sub-classification BC shows, cytoplasmic Kaiso is differentially enriched in ER- BC (p=0.001) compared nuclear Kaiso (p=0.8) and is significantly enriched in the more aggressive classes LumB (p=0.0017), HER2+ (p=0.05) and TNBC (p=6.1e-07) with respect to LumA BC patients. Additionally, the survival analysis of different compartments of Kaiso demonstrates that high cytoplasmic Kaiso (HR = 16.29 (7.6 – 34.8), p = 5.5e−13) is much more predictive of poor survival compared to nuclear Kaiso (HR = 2.83 (2.02 – 3.8), p = 6.1e−11). At gene expression level, ZBTB33 mRNA levels do not correlate with either nuclear (Spearman correlation: -0.03157, p= 0.7267) or cytoplasmic levels (Spearman correlation: -0.03526, p= 0.6962) of Kaiso. Surprisingly, ZBTB33 mRNA abundance is predictive of poor overall BC survival as demonstrated in two independent publicly available BC cohorts Metabric (HR = 2.14 (1.49 − 3.08), p = 2.7e−05) and Gyorffy B et al. (HR = 1.81 (1.55 − 2.12), p = 2.5e−14). Nuclear and cytoplasmic levels of Kaiso do not show significant differences based on race p=0.27 and p=0.1 respectively. Conclusions: Our data suggest subcellular distribution of high Kaiso is associated with poor prognosis of BC survival and subcellular localizations of Kaiso may play differential biological roles in BC prognosis.

To investigate if resveratrol prevent the mitochondrial permeability transition pore (mPTP) opening through inhibition of endoplasmic reticulum stress (ERS). Methods: Rat heart tissue-derived cardiac H9c2 myoblast cell line was cultured. Fluorescence images of mitochondrial membrane potential were obtained with confocal microscopy. Western blotting analyzes the ERS marker protein GRP78 expression. Transmission electron microscopy detects the subcellular structure. Results: Exposure of cardiac H9c2 cells to 100 μM 2-DG, the ERS inducer, for 20 min caused a marked decrease in mitochondrial specific tetramethylrhodamine ethyl ester (TMRE) fluorescence. Resveratrol significantly prevented the loss of TMRE fluorescence. Western blotting revealed that resveratrol decreased GRP78 expression. Experiments with transmission electron microscopy revealed that resveratrol prevented 2-DG-induced swelling of endoplasmic reticulum and mitochondrial damages. Conclusions: These data suggest that inhibition of ERS leads to the prevention of mPTP opening. Resveratrol prevents the mPTP opening through inhibition of ERS.

Background: AKT is an important intracellular control point through which Type 1 growth factors and IGFR signal. Mutations in PIK3CA, AKT and PTEN are prevalent in estrogen receptor positive (ER+) breast cancer (BC) and have been implicated in resistance to endocrine therapies. AZD5363 is an inhibitor of AKT 1, 2 and 3 currently in Phase 2 trials for BC and other solid cancers. Design: The study examined whether AZD5363 impacts on key biomarkers within the AKT pathway and their subsequent effects on Ki67, a marker of tumor proliferation. STAKT is a multi-center, two-stage, double blind, randomized, placebo controlled, biomarker 'window-of-opportunity' trial in women with newly diagnosed, previously untreated ER+ BC who were deemed would require chemotherapy as part of their primary treatment regimen. Stage 1 assessed AZD5363 at a dose of 480mg bd p.o. versus matching placebo. Up to 30 patients per arm were permitted, to allow 12 subjects per arm with evaluable paired biopsies - obtained at baseline, and after 4.5 days of AZD5363 / placebo. Primary endpoint markers were pPRAS40, pGSK3β and Ki67 assessed by immunohistochemistry. pPRAS40 and pGSK3β were assessed by H-scores and measured separately for cytoplasmic (cyto), nuclear (nuc) and total (cyto+nuc) staining. Ki67 was assessed as % positive staining of 500 tumor nuclei. Laboratory staff were blinded to treatment arm and whether the biopsies were taken before or after AZD5363/placebo. Changes in marker expression (both absolute and %) between biopsies were calculated, and compared between the two groups. An ANOVA test was applied for normally distributed data and Wilcoxon Mann-Whitney used if not normally distributed. Results: 28/36 patients were evaluable with patient & tumor characteristics as follows: 17 received AZD5363 and 11 placebo; the median ages were 48 & 49 years respectively. 27 patients were Caucasian and 1 African-American. Tumors were all ER+. For HER2 status 8 were positive & 9 negative in the AZD5363 treated group compared to 2 & 9 respectively in the placebo group. For pPRAS40 and pGSK3β cyto was the predominant staining while for Ki67 staining was nuclear. Changes in each marker with associated p-values are shown in the table. MarkerType of change vs baselineDegree of change in AZD5363 arm (n=17)p-value versus placebo arm (n=11)pPRAS40 (H-score)TotalAbsolute-83.8<0.0001Total%-50.2<0.0001CytoAbsolute-90.0<0.0001Cyto%-55.8<0.0001NucAbsolute+6.90.42Nuc%+8.90.94pGSK3β (H-score)TotalAbsolute-55.30.006Total%-39.00.006CytoAbsolute-53.60.006Cyto%-39.20.006NucAbsolute-2.80.065Nuc%-36.50.058Ki67 (% cells+)Absolute-9.60.031%-29.40.052 Conclusions• AZD5363 for 4.5 days caused highly significant falls in pGSK3β and pPRAS40, key markers of AKT pathway activation • AZD53643 also caused a significant decline in Ki67 even after only 4.5 days of drug. This is one of the shortest 'window'-studies to report such an early effect on proliferation. • Placebo controlled 'window' studies of this short duration can provide important evidence of the therapeutic potential early in a drug's development. Citation Format: Robertson JFR, Coleman RE, Cheung KL, Evans A, Holcombe C, Skene A, Rea D, Ahmed S, Jahan A, Kelly S, Horgan K, Rauchhaus P, Littleford R, Foxley A, Lindemann JPO, Pass M, Rugman P, Deb R, Finlay P, Gee JMW. AZD5363, an AKT inhibitor, significantly inhibits key biomarkers of the AKT pathway and Ki67, in a randomized, placebo, controlled study (STAKT) in human breast cancers [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 2017 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium; 2017 Dec 5-9; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2018;78(4 Suppl):Abstract nr P4-04-06.

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Purpose: As an alternative to the drawbacks of current advanced cancer treatments such as conventional chemotherapy, we propose a multifunctional double targeting drug delivery system that utilizes the combination of cancer-targeting peptides fused to amphiphilic polymer coated iron oxide nanoparticles (IONPs) and loaded with suitable anticancer drugs as the payload. Methods: PC3 human prostate cancer cell line will be used initially to test the efficiency of the proposed drug delivery system. Our target sites of choice are the luteinizing hormone releasing hormone receptor (LHRH-R) and the urokinase-type plasminogen activator receptor (uPAR), and docetaxel was selected as the payload. A modified LHRH (ligand for LHRH-R) and AE105 (ligand for uPAR) were conjugated to polymer coated IONPs according to the manufacturer's protocol. Results: Conjugated IONPs were characterized by gel electrophoresis and Dynamic Light Scattering (DLS). IONPs showed expected narrow size distribution after conjugation with peptide ligand. The average hydrodynamic size of non targeted IONPs (36.84 nm) was increased upon conjugation of double peptide to their surface (44.06 nm). Conjugation of peptides to carboxylic groups of polymer coating on IONPs resulted in a decrease of zeta potential from -70.43 mV to -58.06 mV. Prussian blue staining demonstrated that LHRH and AE105 conjugated IONPs were internalized efficiently by the PC3 cells. The drug loading and release capability of conjugated IONPs will be evaluated by HPLC. In addition the internalization of conjugated IONPs will also be examined utilizing Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), and tumor eradication will be determined by MTT assay. Conclusions: We expect a significant enhancement in the binding efficiency of the LHRH-IONPs-AE105 to the prostate cancer cells, increased efficiency in tumor eradication, and better imaging and monitoring capabilities because IONPs can be visualized by MRI during molecular imaging of the prostate cancer cells. Therefore, we believe the optimization of the proposed system will enhance targeted nanomedicine and significantly improve the health outcomes and quality of life for cancer patients because of the following reasons: 1) its ability to deliver anticancer drugs specifically to cancer cells while sparing the surrounding normal tissues, and 2) the capability of in situ monitoring of the therapeutics. Citation Format: Md Shakir U. Ahmed, Mohamed O. Abdalla, Timothy Turner. Double targeting nanoscale drug delivery system for treatment and imaging of metastatic solid cancers. [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 4480. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2014-4480