Abstract A049: Investigation of FHD-609, a potent degrader of BRD9, in preclinical models of acute myeloid leukemia (AML)
Authors: Dominici Claudia , Mayhew David , Adam Ammar , Uzan Flore , Garbitt-Amaral Victoria , Mikse Oliver , Antonakos Brandon , Ahmad Hafiz , Parikh Salonee , Lin Mei Yun , Sandoval Gabriel , Lahr David , Wu Hsin-Jung , Xu Mengni , Brennan Sean , Soares Luis M. M. , Muwanguzi Jordana , Chen Huawei , Yang Zhaoxia , Lowe Jason T , Netherton Matt , Zawadzke Laura , Voigt Johannes , Huang Liyue , Ruppel Sabine , Chan Ho Man , Kruger Ryan , Milan David S , Innis Scott , Zhou Qianhe , Bellon Steven F 
Published: December 2023

Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is a complex disease with multiple sub-types, each characterized by unique clinical and molecular features, driving the need to develop targeted therapies which exploit specific vulnerabilities. Bromodomain-containing protein 9 (BRD9) is a component of the ncBAF chromatin remodeling complex, and has been recently indicated as a strong dependency in AML (Weisberg et al 2022). It has been shown that inhibitors of BRD9 induce growth inhibition and expression of apoptotic makers in AML cell lines (Hohmann et al 2016; Zhou et al 2021). It has also been reported that BRD9 is critical to AML cell survival through the maintenance of STAT5 signaling (Del Gaudio et al 2019). Herein, we profile the in vitro anti-proliferative effects of FHD-609, a potent and selective degrader of BRD9, in a panel of 40 AML cell lines representative of a broad range of AML sub-types. We observed that FHD-609 was effective at inhibiting the growth of a subset of AML cell lines, consistent with previous reports in the literature. We further investigated whether treatment of AML cell lines with FHD-609 would induce changes in cell cycle, and found an increase in G1 in the same subset of cell lines that showed cell growth inhibition. Furthermore, treatment with FHD-609 induced apoptosis in these cell lines. To identify the mechanisms of action of FHD-609 in AML, as well as potential predictive biomarkers for AML sensitivity to FHD-609, we performed a range of mechanistic studies including ATACseq, ChIPseq and RNAseq in AML cells treated with FHD-609. We observed significant changes in the chromatin landscape in sensitive AML cell lines, and negligible changes in insensitive cell lines. Further bioinformatics analysis identified a possible biomarker strategy that correlates with the sensitivity of AML cell lines to FHD-609 in vitro. To confirm whether this biomarker strategy would successfully predict response in vivo, we dosed AML CDX and PDX models with FHD-609 based on the biomarker selection strategy. We observed a strong anti-tumor effect in AML CDX models and significantly extended survival of the mice in the AML PDX models. In summary, we have shown that FHD-609 demonstrates strong anti-tumor efficacy in a subtype of AML and have identified a possible biomarker strategy to predict response.

Citation Format: Claudia Dominici, David Mayhew, Ammar Adam, Flore Uzan, Victoria Garbitt-Amaral, Oliver Mikse, Brandon Antonakos, Hafiz Ahmad, Salonee Parikh, Mei Yun Lin, Gabriel Sandoval, David Lahr, Hsin-Jung Wu, Mengni Xu, Sean Brennan, Luis M. M. Soares, Jordana Muwanguzi, Huawei Chen, Zhaoxia Yang, Jason T Lowe, Matt Netherton, Laura Zawadzke, Johannes Voigt, Liyue Huang, Sabine Ruppel, Ho Man Chan, Ryan Kruger, David S Milan, Scott Innis, Qianhe Zhou, Steven F Bellon. Investigation of FHD-609, a potent degrader of BRD9, in preclinical models of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR-NCI-EORTC Virtual International Conference on Molecular Targets and Cancer Therapeutics; 2023 Oct 11-15; Boston, MA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Mol Cancer Ther 2023;22(12 Suppl):Abstract nr A049.