Abstract PO3-27-02: A novel PTK6 PROTAC degrader induces apoptosis of drug resistant breast cancer cells
Authors: Irie Hanna , Martinez Criseyda , Xiong Yan , Bartkowski Alison , Byerly Jessica , Jin Jian 
Published: May 2024

Background. PTK6/Brk, a non-receptor tyrosine kinase, is an oncogenic driver for several tumor types, including breast, prostate, liver, and pancreatic cancers. PTK6 is expressed in all breast cancer subtypes and higher levels of expression are associated with worse patient outcomes. The optimal approach to targeting PTK6 for therapeutic benefit has not been established. Although several inhibitors of PTK6 kinase activity have been developed, none have thus far been successfully translated to clinical trials. This may be in part due to kinase activity-independent functions of PTK6, for which there is growing evidence, that are not effectively targeted by traditional small molecule kinase inhibitors. Downregulation of PTK6 using shRNA inhibits growth, invasion/migration, survival and metastasis of breast cancer cells, including those that are resistant to standard therapies. PTK6 kinase inhibitor treatment phenocopies effects of PTK6 downregulation with respect to some, but not all PTK6-driven oncogenic activities. Moreover, growth of PTK6 CRISPR-targeted cells can be rescued either with wild type or catalytically inactive PTK6, supporting kinase activity-independent activities of PTK6 in regulating growth and viability of breast cancer cells. Therefore, PROTAC degraders may be a better way to chemically target and downregulate PTK6 expression in cancer, thereby phenocopying the effects of PTK6 shRNA. Methods. We developed a first-in-class PTK6 degrader using PROTAC (proteolysis-targeting chimeric) technology to target PTK6 expression in breast cancer cells of diverse subtypes. Degrader controls were also synthesized to assess specificity of MS105’s effects. Results. PTK6 degrader, but not degrader controls, potently downregulates PTK6 expression in multiple breast cancer cell types. Proteomic and kinome profiling confirm the specificity of our PTK6 degrader. PTK6 PROTAC degrader inhibits viability and induces apoptosis of PTK6-expressing breast cancer cells, whereas treatment with parent kinase inhibitor or degrader controls that do not engage PTK6 or E3 ligase have minimal effect. Treatment with PTK6 degrader, but not kinase inhibitor or degrader controls, induces expression of pro-apoptotic Bim, phenocopying the effects observed with PTK6 shRNA. In contrast, PTK6 degrader and kinase inhibitor are comparably effective in inhibiting cell migration, supporting the differential kinase dependency of PTK6-dependent oncogenic functions. Therefore, our PTK6 PROTAC degrader effectively inhibits both kinase-dependent and independent oncogenic activities of PTK6. Our studies support the development of PTK6 PROTAC degraders as a preferred approach to clinically targeting PTK6 in cancer.

Citation Format: Hanna Irie, Criseyda Martinez, Yan Xiong, Alison Bartkowski, Jessica Byerly, Jian Jin. A novel PTK6 PROTAC degrader induces apoptosis of drug resistant breast cancer cells [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 2023 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium; 2023 Dec 5-9; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2024;84(9 Suppl):Abstract nr PO3-27-02.