Proteolytic Targeting Chimeric Molecules (PROTACs) Specific for Bromodomain-Containing Protein (BRD) 4 Are Active Against Pre-Clinical Models of Multiple Myeloma

Background:

BRD4, a bromodomain and extraterminal domain (BET) family member, has an important role in modulating the expression of essential oncogenes such as c-MYC, and is emerged as a promising therapeutic target in diverse cancer types. Pharmacologic BET inhibitors in development such as JQ1 and OTX015 display preclinical anti-myeloma activity, and induce preferential loss of BRD4 bound to super-enhancers leading to transcriptional repression of c-MYC. Another approach to target this pathway is through the use of bi-functional molecules, which incorporate a small molecule BRD4 binding moiety with an E3 ubiquitin ligase recognition motif, such as ARV-825 and dBET1 (Lu et al. Chem Biol. 22:755, 2015, Winter et al. Science 348:1376, 2015). These agents induce Cereblon (CRBN)-dependent BRD4 ubiquitination and then proteasome-mediated degradation, thereby also reducing downstream c-MYC protein levels.

Methods:

We performed pre-clinical studies in myeloma cell lines and primary samples using ARV-825 and ARV-763, which are PROTACs that target BRD4 to either the CRBN or the Von Hippel-Lindau (VHL) E3 ligases, respectively. Downstream effects were studied using viability and apoptosis assays, cell cycle profiling, and Western blotting, among others.

Results:

Tetrazolium assays showed that both PROTACs were able to reduce the viability of a panel of myeloma cell lines, including MM1.S, U266, RPMI 8226, ANBL-6, KAS-6/1, and OPM-2 cells, and this occurred with greater potency than was the case for the BRD4 inhibitors JQ1 or OTX015. Median inhibitory concentrations were 5.66-91.98 nM for ARV-825, and 13.22-1522 nM for ARV-763, respectively. This reduction in viability was both time- and concentration-dependent, and was associated with a reduction of cells in the S phase, and an increase in G0/G1 cells, as well as cells with sub-G0/G1 DNA content, suggesting the onset of apoptosis. Programmed cell death was indeed found to be induced based on the appearance of an increase in Annexin V-positive cells by flow cytometry, and in cleaved caspase 8, caspase 9, caspase 3, and poly-ADP-ribose polymerase by Western blotting. The latter was associated with a specific reduction in the expression levels of both BRD4 and c-MYC that did not influence the abundance of other cellular proteins that were not BRD4 targets, and in a reduction in BRD4 and c-MYC mRNA. In contrast, JQ1 and OTX015 exposure resulted in a slight increase in BRD4 protein expression and a lesser decrease of c-MYC protein. Studies of drug combinations showed that, as expected, lenalidomide and pomalidomide were antagonistic to the effects of the CRBN-targeted ARV-825 PROTAC, but these immunomodulatory drugs showed additive or synergistic effects in combination with the VHL-targeted agent ARV-763. Also as expected, bortezomib and carfilzomib reduced the ability of both ARV-825 and ARV-763 to induce BRD4 degradation, but enhanced anti-proliferative and pro-apoptotic effects were seen in a manner that was influenced by the sequence of drug addition. In studies of drug-resistant cell lines, both PROTACs were able to overcome dexamethasone, melphalan, lenalidomide, and bortezomib resistance, but cross-resistance was seen in RPMI 8226/Dox40 cells, suggesting that these compounds are substrates for P-glycoprotein, which is over-expressed in these cells. Finally, we tested BRD4 PROTACs in primary cells isolated from patients with multiple myeloma, and observed rapid loss of viability of these plasma cells.

Conclusions:

Taken together, our data demonstrate that BRD4 degraders have promising activity against pre-clinical models of multiple myeloma, and support their translation to the clinic for patients with relapsed/refractory disease. Additional combination and mechanistic studies, as well as data from ongoing in vivo studies, will be presented at the meeting.