OR05-03 Treatment Of Parathyroid Neoplasia By Pharmacologic cdk4/6 Inhibition
Authors: Costa-Guda Jessica , Bellizzi Justin , Gorka Sindy , Titarenko Christina , Arnold Andrew 
Published: October 2023

Disclosure: J. Costa-Guda: None. J. Bellizzi: None. S. Gorka: None. C. Titarenko: None. A. Arnold: None.

Parathyroid carcinoma (PC) is a rare, life-threatening malignancy. Despite relatively slow growth, recurrent or metastatic disease is typically incurable and often fatal due to cumulative complications of sustained elevation of parathyroid hormone (PTH) and accompanying hypercalcemia. Medical therapy aids in managing sequelae of hyperparathyroidism (HPT) but non-surgical interventions to reduce tumor burden have been largely ineffective in PC. Cyclin D1 amplification is seen in nearly 30% of PC, making it a key potentially actionable therapeutic target. Importantly, in contrast to other tissue contexts, cyclin D1-driven parathyroid neoplasia has been experimentally demonstrated to depend on cyclin D1’s ability to bind and activate its partner cyclin dependent kinases (cdk). This suggests that parathyroid tumor cells may be more sensitive to alterations in cdk-mediated proliferation control, and thus more responsive to pharmacologic cdk inhibition, compared with other tumor types. We sought to test the efficacy of cdk4/6 inhibitor therapy in cyclin D1-overexpressing parathyroid tumors in a pre-clinical system. We utilized a mouse model, harboring a PTH-CCND1 (PCD) transgene to drive parathyroid-specific cyclin D1 overexpression, which develops hormonally-active parathyroid tumors with known kinetics. Transgenic mice with established hyperparathyroidism and wild type littermates were treated with the cdk4/6 inhibitors palbociclib or abemaciclib for three weeks. While vehicle-treated PCD mice showed a 7% increase in serum calcium (Ca) levels over the course of treatment, Ca decreased by 1.8% and 0.5% in palbociclib- and abemaciclib-treated PCD mice, respectively, from pre-treatment levels. This treatment effect persisted for at least 60 days after discontinuation of treatment. Decreased parathyroid proliferation, as evidenced by 4.7-fold and 17.3-fold fewer Ki-67-positive cells in palbociclib- and abemaciclib-treated PCD mice, respectively, compared with vehicle-treated PCD mice, was also seen. Cdk inhibitor treatment had no effect on Ca or parathyroid cell proliferation in wild type mice. These results demonstrate that palbociclib and abemaciclib can significantly slow the progression of hypercalcemia and parathyroid proliferation in a cyclin D1-driven parathyroid tumor model, suggesting that cyclin D1 overexpressing parathyroid cells may be particularly sensitive to cdk4/6 inhibition. Our findings provide the first evidence of a direct pharmacologic effect in a relevant preclinical system to support the hypothesis that selected HPT patients, eg those suffering from advanced PC with activated cyclin D1, could substantially benefit from cdk4/6 inhibitor therapy. This evidence may aid clinicians in selecting therapeutic interventions, including when considering such drugs for off-label use or inclusion of PC patients in “basket” clinical trials.

Presentation: Thursday, June 15, 2023