Abstract 3907: Targeting adaptive resistance to EGFR and KRAS G12C inhibitors by TT125-802, a novel and specific CBP/p300 bromodomain inhibitor
Authors: Bohnacker Thomas , Gruber Dorothea , Laudato Sara , Schwill Martin , Fabritius Charles-Henry , Herrador Raquel , Westritschnig Katrin , Pattupara Thushara , Ayinampudi Vikram , Flückiger-Mangual Stefanie 
Published: April 2023

Resistance to targeted therapies is a major challenge in oncology. Disease progression is caused by multiple resistance mechanisms. Besides pre-existing and acquired genetic alternations, adaptive non-mutational reprogramming as well as modulation of phenotypic plasticity have emerged as drivers of disease progression. For example, in epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR)-mutated non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients who were treated with osimertinib, ~50% of progressive disease could not be attributed to genetic mutations (Leonetti et al., BJC 2019). Similarly, in ~ 40% of patients suffering from KRAS G12C-mutated NSCLC and colorectal cancer (CRC), disease progressed under sotorasib treatment without identifiable acquired mutations (Zhao et al., Nature 2021). Thus, targeting non-genetic adaptive resistance mechanism such as drug-induced transcriptional reprogramming might be of great therapeutic benefit. Here we identified small molecules, that interfere with cancer drug-induced transcriptional escape mechanisms using a phenotypic screen based on an SRY-Box Transcription Factor 2 (SOX2) reporter system. The screen led to the development of TT125-802, a highly specific and potent, orally available small molecule inhibitor of the bromodomain of the transcriptional and epigenetic regulator CBP [cyclic adenosine monophosphate response element binding protein (CREB) binding protein] and its paralogue p300. TT125-802 dose-dependently prevented osimertinib resistance development in EGFR-mutated NSCLC cell lines HCC827 and HCC4006, as well as sotorasib resistance development in KRAS G12C-mutated NCI-H358 (NSCLC), SW837 and SNU-1411 (CRCs) as assessed by label-free long-term live microscopy assays. Data generated in mouse xenograft studies confirmed the ability of TT125-802 increasing response rates and prolonging the duration of response to osimertinib and sotorasib in vivo. In cells and tumours which were already resistant to osimertinib or sotorasib, TT125-802 could still delay cell or tumor growth. Complementary and longitudinal analysis of transcriptional changes using RNA sequencing in vitro and in vivo identified several early adaptive and late acquired resistance signatures that were reversed by TT125-802. A first-in-human study of TT125-802 in cancer patients is on track to start in 2023.

Citation Format: Thomas Bohnacker, Dorothea Gruber, Sara Laudato, Martin Schwill, Charles-Henry Fabritius, Raquel Herrador, Katrin Westritschnig, Thushara Pattupara, Vikram Ayinampudi, Stefanie Flückiger-Mangual. Targeting adaptive resistance to EGFR and KRAS G12C inhibitors by TT125-802, a novel and specific CBP/p300 bromodomain inhibitor. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2023; Part 1 (Regular and Invited Abstracts); 2023 Apr 14-19; Orlando, FL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2023;83(7_Suppl):Abstract nr 3907.