Abstract 6576: Discovery of potent and selective novel small molecule drugs to target estrogen receptor mutants in endocrine-resistant breast cancer
Authors: Devakrishnan Anil Kumar , Madasu Chandrashekhar , Fuqua Suzanne A.W , Matzuk Martin M. , Palaniappan Murugesan 
Published: March 2024

Introduction: The acquisition of estrogen receptor alpha (ERα) gene (ESR1) mutations is a key driver for the development of resistance to current endocrine therapy in breast cancer. Clinical studies have shown that ESR1 mutations are frequently observed in metastatic ER-positive breast cancer patients and are associated with poor survival. It is well appreciated that activating ESR1 somatic mutations, especially Y537S and D538G, can drive estrogen-independent activities. In addition, these ESR1 mutations diminish the potency of the current standard-of-care agents (tamoxifen and fulvestrant) that bind ERα directly. Therefore, it is an unmet need to develop next-generation antiestrogens that inhibit ERα mutant signaling in breast cancer to improve patient survival. Here, we search for small molecule inhibitors against ERα mutants Y537S and D538G using DNA-encoded chemical library (DEL).

Methods: ERα ligand binding domain (LBD) proteins corresponding to wild type (WT), Y537S and D538G mutants were expressed in E. coli and purified by Ni-NTA, anion exchange, and size exclusion chromatography. The ability of these purified proteins to bind ligands was tested in biochemical assays to validate their use in DEL selections. We conducted a DEL affinity selection using our in-house collection of 6 billion small molecule compounds against WT, Y537S and D538G mutants ER LBD proteins in the presence and absence of estradiol. Selection hits that enriched with these targets were resynthesized off-DNA and tested in biochemical and functional studies using CRISPR-Cas9 knock-in Y537S or D538G mutant breast cancer cells.

Results: We have successfully purified microgram amounts of ERα LBD for WT, Y537S, and D538G proteins. In our biochemical assay, the SRC3 peptide binds to the WT ERα LBD in the presence of estradiol, whereas Y537S and D538G LBDs bind the SRC3 peptide in the absence of estradiol, consistent with these mutants constitutively binding to SRC3. Our multibillion small molecule collections of DELs can screen and identify several hits in WT and mutant ERα LBDs. To confirm the selection output, we synthesized off-DNA compounds and validated these in biochemical and cell-based studies. Compounds CDD-1274 and CDD-1802 dramatically decrease the WT and mutant ERα protein levels in multiple ER+ breast cancer cells. These compounds greatly reduce protein levels for GREB1, TFF1, c-MYC, E2F1, and survivin in wildtype and mutant breast cancer cells, and they increase levels of cleaved PARP, a marker for apoptosis in wildtype and mutant ER+ breast cancer cells but not in ER-negative breast cancer cells.

Conclusion: Our study rapidly identified potent and novel small molecule drugs to target estrogen receptor mutants using our DNA-encoded chemical library platform.

Acknowledgments: Funding sources (NIH/NCI R03 CA259664 and CPRIT RP220524 to MP).

Citation Format: Anil Kumar Devakrishnan, Chandrashekhar Madasu, Suzanne A.W Fuqua, Martin M. Matzuk, Murugesan Palaniappan. Discovery of potent and selective novel small molecule drugs to target estrogen receptor mutants in endocrine-resistant breast cancer [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2024; Part 1 (Regular Abstracts); 2024 Apr 5-10; San Diego, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2024;84(6_Suppl):Abstract nr 6576.