Abstract B119: First-in-class orally active pharmacological inhibitors of TRPV6 for the treatment of advanced prostate cancer
Authors: Monteith Gregory , Beaumont Kimberley , Pouwer Rebecca , Farrow Rebecca , McLachlan Matthew , Yeh Mei , Johnson Therese , Rahmani Raphael , Levrier Claire , Wijesekera Hasanthi , Kumarasiri Malika , Stuchbury Grant , Cock Terrie-Anne , Harvey Andrew , Dymock Brian 
Published: December 2023

The highly calcium selective ion channel TRPV6, has pronouced overexpression in many prostate cancers, is a promotor of prostate cancer growth and has been proposed as a prognostic marker in prostate cancer. A novel series of first-in-class TRPV6 inhibitors has been developed by the Queensland Emory Drug Discovery Initiative (QEDDI), a drug discovery and development group aiming to collaborativey translate academic biomedical research into new medicines. The preclinical lead drug candidate QED-203, is orally active and potently inhibits (low nM) calcium influx mediated by TRPV6 as assessed by both Ca2+ probe and electrophysiology assays, and TRPV6-driven NFAT activation as assessed by a luciferase reporter assay. Using RNAseq and qPCR analysis TRPV6 pharmacological inhibition and/or siRNA-mediated silencing was shown to remodel the expression of genes related to both NFAT and WNT signalling, as well as ER stress and the cell cycle. In prostate cancer cell lines that had increased levels of TRPV6, TRPV6 inhibition promoted cell cycle arrest, decreased proliferation and promoted apoptosis. Proliferation of enzalutamide resistant prostate cancer cell lines was also inhibited by QED-203. QED-203 exhibited greater potency over enzalutamide, darolutamide and apalutamide [androgen receptor targeting agents (ARTA)] in prostate cancer cell lines with clinically relevant AR mutations or those with the ARV7 splice variant. QED-203 appeared well suited to once-a-day oral dosing with a high bioavailability and an advantageous pharmacokinetic profile. In preclinical models, QED-203 was well tolerated in rodents and had similar in vivo efficacy to enzalutamide in a castrated LNCaP mouse model of prostate cancer as assessed by tumour growth and PSA levels. Increases in urine calcium levels and gene expression changes consistent with TRPV6 inhibition in isolated xenograft tumours, confirmed QED-203 TRPV6 target engagement in vivo. These studies suggest that the orally active TRPV6 inhibitor QED-203 represents a first-in-class mechanism to treat prostate cancer patients whose tumours have become resistant to current ARTA therapies. Pharmacological inhibitors of TRPV6, could be particularly valuable during the advanced stages of prostate cancer, where there is a clear unmet clinical need.

Citation Format: Gregory Monteith, Kimberley Beaumont, Rebecca Pouwer, Rebecca Farrow, Matthew McLachlan, Mei Yeh, Therese Johnson, Raphael Rahmani, Claire Levrier, Hasanthi Wijesekera, Malika Kumarasiri, Grant Stuchbury, Terrie-Anne Cock, Andrew Harvey, Brian Dymock. First-in-class orally active pharmacological inhibitors of TRPV6 for the treatment of advanced prostate cancer [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 B119.