Abstract CN04-03: Development of NSAID eflornithine combinations for treating cancer risk factors
Authors: Gerner Eugene W. 
Published: January 2014

Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDS) have been found to be potent inhibitors of carcinogenesis in both preclinical models and in randomized controlled prospective clinical trials in humans. NSAIDS exert their anti-carcinogenic effects by inhibiting cyclooxygenases (COXs) involved in arachidonic acid metabolism and by COX-independent mechanisms. Empirical data indicates eflornithine (difluoromethylornithine or DFMO), an enzyme-activated inhibitor of ornithine decarboxylase (ODC) (Meyskens and Gerner, 1999), is one of the most potent agents known acting in combination with NSAIDS to inhibit carcinogenesis in rodent models (Steele and Lubet, 2010). At least part of the rationale for combining NSAIDS with eflornithine for inhibition of carcinogenesis is that eflornithine inhibits the activity of ODC, the first enzyme in polyamine synthesis, while NSAIDS activate the spermidine/spermine acetyltransferase (SAT1), which targets polyamines for export by specific solute carrier transporters (Gerner and Meyskens, 2009). Thus, NSAIDS and eflornithine both reduce tissue levels of the growth-associated polyamines, but by complementary mechanisms. A clinical trial of the combination of eflornithine and the NSAID sulindac showed dramatic treatment-associated reductions of metachronous colorectal adenomas in patients with prior sporadic colorectal polyps (Meyskens et al., 2008). Several clinical trials in progress or soon to commence will further test the hypothesis that NSAID eflornithine combinations can successfully treat cancer risk factors in patients with specific cancers, or risk of cancer. One group of clinical trials involves patients with neuroblastoma (NB). Patients with poor prognosis NB often have tumors in which MYCN is overexpressed. Preclinical data indicates that MYCN as well as c-MYC drive expression of ODC and other genes in the polyamine pathway, and that inhibiting this pathway with eflornithine suppressed carcinogenesis in mouse models of NB (Hogarty et al., 2008). Likewise, COX-2 is expressed in NB tumors and cell lines, and COX-2 inhibitors such as celecoxib can suppress the growth of NB xenografts (Ponthan et al., 2007). The Neuroblastoma and Medulloblastoma Translational Research Consortium (NMTRC) and the New Approaches to Neuroblastoma Therapy (NANT) group are conducting clinical trials to evaluate the safety and efficacy of eflornithine alone or in combination with NSAIDS and other agents in patients with high risk NB. The NMTRC is conducting an especially novel prevention trial of eflornithine in patients with high risk NB in remission (NCT01586260). Eflornithine NSAID combinations are also being evaluated in other MYC-associated diseases. Familial adenomatous polyposis (FAP) is a genetic syndrome associated with increased risk of colon cancer and other neoplasia and is caused by mutation/deletions in the adenomatous polyposis coli (APC) tumor suppressor gene. MYC mediates intestinal tumorigenesis (Ignatenko et al., 2006) and combinations of eflornithine and NSAIDS are potent inhibitors of intestinal carcinogenesis (Ignatenko et al., 2008) in murine models of FAP. Notable is the change in clinical management of FAP patients over the past two decades. FAP is now managed primarily by surgery, with duodenal polyposis and desmoid disease constituting two current significant clinical problems. An international consortium will be evaluating the combination of eflornithine and sulindac in adult patients with FAP, using time to FAP-related events as the primary outcome (NCT01483144). This same combination will be evaluated in patients with prior sporadic colon cancer in a study to be conducted by a national cooperative group (S0820, Adenoma and second primary prevention trial, NCT01349881) (Rial et al., 2012). These and other trials have been designed to include assessment of a range of biological correlates, including genetic (Zell et al., 2010), tissue (Thompson et al., 2010) and urinary markers (Hiramatsu et al., 2005) of disease prognosis and prediction of treatment responses, including therapy-associated toxicities.

Citation Format: Eugene W. Gerner. Development of NSAID eflornithine combinations for treating cancer risk factors. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Eleventh Annual AACR International Conference on Frontiers in Cancer Prevention Research; 2012 Oct 16-19; Anaheim, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Prev Res 2012;5(11 Suppl):Abstract nr CN04-03.