Abstract PO-024: Catastrophic ATP loss underlines a metabolic combination therapy tailored for MYCN-amplified neuroblastoma
Authors: Powell Krista M. , Lochmann Timonthy L. , Floros Konstantinos V. , Calbert Marissa L. , Kurupi Richard , Stein Giovanna T. , McClanaghan Joseph , Murchie Ellen , Egan Regina K. , Greninger Patricia , Dozmorov Mikhail , Ramamoorthy Sivapriya , Puchalapalli Madhavi , Hu Bin , Shock Lisa , Koblisnski Jennifer , Glod John , Boikos Sosipatros A. , Benes Cyril H. , Faber Anthony C. 
Published: December 2020

MYCN-amplified neuroblastoma is responsible for ~10% of all cancer-related deaths in the pediatric population. MYCN drives numerous effects in the cell, including metabolic changes that are critical for oncogenesis. The understanding that both compensatory pathways and intrinsic redundancy in cell systems exists implies that the use of combination therapies for effective and durable responses is necessary. Additionally, the most effective targeted therapies exploit an “Achilles’ heels” and are tailored to the genetics of the cancer under study. We performed an unbiased screen on select metabolic targeted therapy combinations and correlated sensitivity with over 20 subsets of cancer. We found that MYCN-amplified neuroblastoma are hypersensitive to the combination of AZD3965, an inhibitor of the lactate transporter MCT1, and phenformin, an inhibitor of complex I of the mitochondrion. Our data demonstrate MCT4 is highly correlated with resistance to the combination of AZD3965 and phenformin through the screen, is heavily methylated, and lowly expressed in MYCN-amplified neuroblastoma. Low MCT4 combines with high expression of the MCT2 and MCT1 chaperone CD147 in MYCN-amplified neuroblastoma, altogether conferring sensitivity to AZD3965 and phenformin combination. Metabolomic analysis showed that the result is simultaneous disruption of glycolysis and oxidative phosphorylation, resulting in dramatic disruption of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) production, endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress, and apoptosis, which was seen through cell viability assays and protein analysis. In mouse models of MYCN-amplified neuroblastoma, the combination was tolerable at concentrations where it shrank tumors and did not increase white blood cell toxicity compared to single-drugs. Therefore, we demonstrate a metabolic combination screen can identify vulnerabilities in subsets of cancer and put forth a metabolic combination therapy tailored for MYCN-amplified neuroblastoma that demonstrates efficacy and tolerability in vivo.

Citation Format: Krista M. Powell, Timonthy L. Lochmann, Konstantinos V. Floros, Marissa L. Calbert, Richard Kurupi, Giovanna T. Stein, Joseph McClanaghan, Ellen Murchie, Regina K. Egan, Patricia Greninger, Mikhail Dozmorov, Sivapriya Ramamoorthy, Madhavi Puchalapalli, Bin Hu, Lisa Shock, Jennifer Koblisnski, John Glod, Sosipatros A. Boikos, Cyril H. Benes, Anthony C. Faber. Catastrophic ATP loss underlines a metabolic combination therapy tailored for MYCN-amplified neuroblastoma [abstract]. In: Abstracts: AACR Special Virtual Conference on Epigenetics and Metabolism; October 15-16, 2020; 2020 Oct 15-16. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2020;80(23 Suppl):Abstract nr PO-024.