Abstract P6-10-01: The Executioner Protein for Immunogenic Anticancer Drug-induced Necrosis in ER Positive Breast Cancer is Transient Receptor Potential Melastatin Member 4
Authors: Ghosh Santanu , Yang Rachel , Duraki Darjan , Kim Ji Eun , Zhu Junyao , Livezey Mara , Boudreau Matthew , Park Ben H. , Fan TImothy , Nelson Erik R. , Hergenrother Paul J. , Shapiro David J. 
Published: March 2023

Immunotherapy has dramatically impacted cancer therapy, but it has been challenging to apply immunotherapy to estrogen receptor (ER) positive breast cancer and many other solid tumors that do not display neoantigens. One way to target these tumors is to induce necrosis, which robustly activates immune cells, inducing immunogenic cell death. However, anticancer therapy-induced necrosis was primarily characterized by morphological changes, and the molecular drivers of necrosis were largely obscure. To probe necrosis, we used our necrosis inducing anticancer agents, the small molecules BHPI and second-generation ErSO, which kill cancer cells by hyperactivating the anticipatory unfolded protein response (a-UPR). In orthotopic mouse xenografts, ErSO induces complete regression without recurrence of large, therapy-resistant primary ER positive breast tumors, of most lung, bone, and liver metastases, near complete regression of challenging breast cancer brain metastases and robust responses in PDX and patient derived organoids (PDOs) models. ErSO also induces complete or near complete regression in mouse xenograft models of ER positive ovarian and endometrial cancer. Using genome wide CRISPR-Cas9 screens with negative selection against our necrosis-inducing a-UPR hyperactivators, BHPI and ErSO, we identified the calcium-activated, ATP-inhibited, plasma membrane sodium channel, Transient Receptor Potential Melastatin Member 4 (TRPM4) as critical for anticancer therapy induced necrosis. TRPM4 knockout in multiple models abolished ErSO-induced ATP depletion, sustained UPR activation, cell swelling, necrotic cell death and increased migration of immune cells. Notably, knockout of TRPM4 completely abolished the ability of ErSO to induce regression of ER positive breast tumors in mice. Supporting a broad role for the TRPM4 pathway in anticancer therapy induced necrosis, rapid cancer cell death induced by four necrosis-inducing cancer therapies unrelated to ErSO, that range from FDA-approved to preclinical, is strongly reversed by TRPM4 knockout. ErSO treatment induces migration of macrophage into regressing tumors. Medium from cancer cells killed by necrosis-inducing ErSO, but not by an apoptosis inducer, dramatically increases macrophage migration and activation, as shown by induction of pro-inflammatory cytokines. This work identifies a protein that plays a pivotal role in the action of diverse anticancer therapies inducing immunogenic necrosis. Since increasing levels of TRPM4 increase sensitivity of breast cancer cells to killing by ErSO, TRPM4 is a novel biomarker whose levels can be used to identify patients most likely to benefit from ErSO and other necrosis-inducing cancer therapies.

Citation Format: Santanu Ghosh, Rachel Yang, Darjan Duraki, Ji Eun Kim, Junyao Zhu, Mara Livezey, Matthew Boudreau, Ben H. Park, TImothy Fan, Erik R. Nelson, Paul J. Hergenrother, David J. Shapiro. The Executioner Protein for Immunogenic Anticancer Drug-induced Necrosis in ER Positive Breast Cancer is Transient Receptor Potential Melastatin Member 4 [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 2022 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium; 2022 Dec 6-10; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2023;83(5 Suppl):Abstract nr P6-10-01.