Abstract 2615: Amplification and/or high expression of Myc family genes sensitizes tumor cells to aurora kinase inhibitors

Abstract

The identification of patient populations predicted to derive clinical benefit from systemic treatment regimens is of critical importance for development of targeted therapies. Collective clinical data available for the Aurora kinase inhibitor class of targeted therapies has indicated that broad single agent clinical activity is not readily apparent. We screened a panel of established lung (mostly non-small cell) and colon cell lines for growth inhibitory sensitivity to PF-03814735, an Aurora family kinase inhibitor, revealing a potential correlation with Myc family amplification or expression. The Aurora kinases A and B have been shown to be functionally linked with Myc family oncoproteins in a number of tumor types. Myc family gene amplification events have been reported in about 30% of small cell lung cancer (SCLC) primary tumors and around 50% of cell lines established from SCLC. We next screened a panel of around 20 SCLC lines for sensitivity to PF-03814735 and its relationship to Myc family gene copy number and gene expression levels. Sensitivity to PF-03814735 in vitro was strongly correlated with amplification events in at least one of the Myc family genes (c-Myc, L-Myc, N-Myc) as well as mRNA expression levels of those genes. Myc family expression demonstrated a significant correlation with gene copy number. Follow up studies to evaluate antitumor efficacy in two SCLC xenograft models, H82 (c-Myc) and H69 (N-Myc), indicated significant tumor growth inhibition by PF-03814735. However, the SCLC models were not appreciably more sensitive to PF-03814735 than several non-Myc amplified tumors studied previously (HCT-116, COLO-205, MDA-MB-231) indicating that further study of optimal dose schedule and/or the molecular basis of sensitivity is warranted. Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 101st Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2010 Apr 17-21; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2010;70(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 2615.

Targeting DNA damage in SCLC

“…Amplification and overexpression of the Myc family, a main driver oncogene dysregulated in many cancers and involved in the regulation of Aurora kinases transcription, occurs in 18-31% of SCLCs and may be more common in chemo-refractory disease [71]. Preclinical studies have demonstrated that aurora A kinase inhibitors are more effective in SCLC cell lines with myc family amplification [71] and/or high expression of myc [72]. A prospective study is now warranted to further evaluate the predictive significance of c-myc expression in the efficacy of alisertib and paclitaxel.…”