Abstract 4617: BAY-ACC001, a novel ACC inhibitor, regulates fatty acids synthesis and lipid survival signaling with promising in vitro and in vivo activities in multiple preclinical tumor models.
Authors: Liu Ningshu , Najar Maher , Scholz Arne , Eis Knut , Bömer Ulf , Lienau Philip , Thede Kai , Mumberg Dominik , Brands Michael , Ziegelbauer Karl 
Published: August 2014

Unlike normal cells, tumors undergo intensified de novo biogenesis of fatty acids (FAs) irrespective of the available circulating lipids. Acetyl-CoA carboxylase 1 (ACC) controls the rate limiting step in FA synthesis. ACC1 is up-regulated in a variety of human tumors and strongly associated with poorer prognosis in some tumor indications. Although targeting lipogenesis for cancer treatment appeared having strong rationale, drug discovery in this field has not been fully explored due to the lack of powerful tools for both evaluation and understanding the mode of action. Here we report the identification and the functional characterization of a highly selective ACC inhibitor BAY-ACC001, a ketoenol derivative using various pharmacological and lipidomic approaches to address the mechanism of ACC inhibition in cancer cells and its efficacy in preclinical tumor models. BAY-ACC001 inhibits human ACC1 and ACC1 with biochemical IC50s of 278 nM and 2590 nM measured by ACC1- or ACC2- mediated generation of ADP, respectively. In a cellular mechanistic assay using MCF7 tumor cells, BAY-ACC001 potently inhibited malonyl-CoA synthesis with an IC50 of 62 nM. Profiling BAY-ACC001 in a panel of 100 tumor cell lines revealed strong anti-proliferative activity in a sub-set of tumor cell lines with IC50s at low 3-digit nanomolar. Of note, in contrast to the potent activity in tumor cell lines, e.g. apoptosis induction in MCF7 breast tumor cells, ACC inhibitor showed only weak anti-proliferative effect and could not induce apoptosis in a set of non-transformed mammary epithelial cells. To elucidate the anti-tumor MoA, the levels of lipid components (∼400 lipid molecules) in MCF7 cells were analyzed using lipidomic technology. Interestingly, ACC inhibition did not lead to a simple depletion of lipid in cells, evident from a significant increase in tumor apoptosis-related lipid signaling molecules ceramides. These results suggested a bi-direction linkage between FA synthesis and the regulation of tumor cell survival. Single administration of BAY-ACC001 orally at 10 mg/kg (the maximum tolerable dose is 30 mg/kg, BID) in mice strongly reduced malonyl CoA levels in tumors. Treatment of BAY-ACC001 as single agent was efficacious in multiple tumor models, including MCF7 (breast), PC3 (prostate), HCT116 (colon) and MDA-MB-435 (melanoma) xenograft models; partial tumor remissions observed in MCF7 model. Furthermore, combination with Tamoxifen was synergistic in the MCF7 tumor model in vitro and in vivo. In conclusion, the prevalence of the exacerbated de novo FA synthesis observed in primary and metastatic tumors, the ACC-mediated novel survival signal transduction discovered in this study, and robust in vitro and in vivo anti-tumor activity of BAY-ACC001 provide a strong rationale for developing novel therapeutics targeting ACC for cancer treatment.

Citation Format: Ningshu Liu, Maher Najar, Arne Scholz, Knut Eis, Ulf Bömer, Philip Lienau, Kai Thede, Dominik Mumberg, Michael Brands, Karl Ziegelbauer. BAY-ACC001, a novel ACC inhibitor, regulates fatty acids synthesis and lipid survival signaling with promising in vitro and in vivo activities in multiple preclinical tumor models. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 104th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2013 Apr 6-10; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2013;73(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 4617. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2013-4617