Targeting CCNE1 amplified ovarian and endometrial cancers by combined inhibition of PKMYT1 and ATR.

Ovarian cancers (OVCAs) and endometrial cancers (EMCAs) with CCNE1-amplification are often resistant to standard of care treatment and represent an unmet clinical need. Previously, synthetic-lethal screening identified loss of the CDK1 regulator, PKMYT1, as synthetically lethal with CCNE1-amplification. We hypothesized that CCNE1-amplification associated replication stress will be more effectively targeted by combining the PKMYT1 inhibitor, lunresertib (RP-6306), with the ATR inhibitor, camonsertib (RP-3500/RG6526). Low dose combination RP-6306 with RP-3500 synergistically increased cytotoxicity more in CCNE1 amplified compared to non-amplified cells. Combination treatment produced durable antitumor activity and increased survival in CCNE1 amplified patient-derived and cell line-derived xenografts. Mechanistically, low doses of RP-6306 with RP-3500 increase CDK1 activation more so than monotherapy, triggering rapid and robust induction of premature mitosis, DNA damage and apoptosis in a CCNE1-dependent manner. These findings suggest that targeting CDK1 activity by combining RP-6306 with RP-3500 is a novel therapeutic approach to treat CCNE1-amplifed OVCAs and EMCAs.

Targeting cancer glycosylation repolarizes tumor-associated macrophages allowing effective immune checkpoint blockade.

Immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) has substantially improved the prognosis of patients with cancer, but the majority experiences limited benefit, supporting the need for new therapeutic approaches. Up-regulation of sialic acid-containing glycans, termed hypersialylation, is a common feature of cancer-associated glycosylation, driving disease progression and immune escape through the engagement of Siglec receptors on tumor-infiltrating immune cells. Here, we show that tumor sialylation correlates with distinct immune states and reduced survival in human cancers. The targeted removal of Siglec ligands in the tumor microenvironment, using an antibody-sialidase conjugate, enhanced antitumor immunity and halted tumor progression in several murine models. Using single-cell RNA sequencing, we revealed that desialylation repolarized tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs). We also identified Siglec-E as the main receptor for hypersialylation on TAMs. Last, we found that genetic and therapeutic desialylation, as well as loss of Siglec-E, enhanced the efficacy of ICB. Thus, therapeutic desialylation represents an immunotherapeutic approach to reshape macrophage phenotypes and augment the adaptive antitumor immune response.

Small-molecule inhibitors directly target CARD9 and mimic its protective variant in inflammatory bowel disease.

Advances in human genetics have dramatically expanded our understanding of complex heritable diseases. Genome-wide association studies have identified an allelic series of CARD9 variants associated with increased risk of or protection from inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). The predisposing variant of CARD9 is associated with increased NF-κB-mediated cytokine production. Conversely, the protective variant lacks a functional C-terminal domain and is unable to recruit the E3 ubiquitin ligase TRIM62. Here, we used biochemical insights into CARD9 variant proteins to create a blueprint for IBD therapeutics and recapitulated the mechanism of the CARD9 protective variant using small molecules. We developed a multiplexed bead-based technology to screen compounds for disruption of the CARD9-TRIM62 interaction. We identified compounds that directly and selectively bind CARD9, disrupt TRIM62 recruitment, inhibit TRIM62-mediated ubiquitinylation of CARD9, and demonstrate cellular activity and selectivity in CARD9-dependent pathways. Taken together, small molecules targeting CARD9 illustrate a path toward improved IBD therapeutics.

Development of Chemical Probes for Investigation of Salt-Inducible Kinase Function in Vivo.

Salt-inducible kinases (SIKs) are promising therapeutic targets for modulating cytokine responses during innate immune activation. The study of SIK inhibition in animal models of disease has been limited by the lack of selective small-molecule probes suitable for modulating SIK function in vivo. We used the pan-SIK inhibitor HG-9-91-01 as a starting point to develop improved analogs, yielding a novel probe 5 (YKL-05-099) that displays increased selectivity for SIKs versus other kinases and enhanced pharmacokinetic properties. Well-tolerated doses of YKL-05-099 achieve free serum concentrations above its IC50 for SIK2 inhibition for >16 h and reduce phosphorylation of a known SIK substrate in vivo. While in vivo active doses of YKL-05-099 recapitulate the effects of SIK inhibition on inflammatory cytokine responses, they did not induce metabolic abnormalities observed in Sik2 knockout mice. These results identify YKL-05-099 as a useful probe to investigate SIK function in vivo and further support the development of SIK inhibitors for treatment of inflammatory disorders.

Identification of Candidate Cyclin-dependent kinase 1 (Cdk1) Substrates in Mitosis by Quantitative Phosphoproteomics.

Cyclin-dependent kinase 1 (Cdk1) is an essential regulator of many mitotic processes including the reorganization of the cytoskeleton, chromosome segregation, and formation and separation of daughter cells. Deregulation of Cdk1 activity results in severe defects in these processes. Although the role of Cdk1 in mitosis is well established, only a limited number of Cdk1 substrates have been identified in mammalian cells. To increase our understanding of Cdk1-dependent phosphorylation pathways in mitosis, we conducted a quantitative phosphoproteomics analysis in mitotic HeLa cells using two small molecule inhibitors of Cdk1, Flavopiridol and RO-3306. In these analyses, we identified a total of 24,840 phosphopeptides on 4,273 proteins, of which 1,215 phosphopeptides on 551 proteins were significantly reduced by 2.5-fold or more upon Cdk1 inhibitor addition. Comparison of phosphopeptide quantification upon either inhibitor treatment revealed a high degree of correlation (R(2) value of 0.87) between the different datasets. Motif enrichment analysis of significantly regulated phosphopeptides revealed enrichment of canonical Cdk1 kinase motifs. Interestingly, the majority of proteins identified in this analysis contained two or more Cdk1 inhibitor-sensitive phosphorylation sites, were highly connected with other candidate Cdk1 substrates, were enriched at specific subcellular structures, or were part of protein complexes as identified by the CORUM database. Furthermore, candidate Cdk1 substrates were enriched in G2 and M phase-specific genes. Finally, we validated a subset of candidate Cdk1 substrates by in vitro kinase assays. Our findings provide a valuable resource for the cell signaling and mitosis research communities and greatly increase our knowledge of Cdk1 substrates and Cdk1-dependent signaling pathways.