Abstract LB161: Discovery of an oral, potent, and selective CDK9 molecular glue degrader SLX-3065 active in aggressive variant prostate cancers (AVPC)
Authors: Lin Chenyu , Li Zhaoliang , Medley Kyle , Bearss David J. , Vankayalapati Hariprasad 
Published: April 2024

Background: The use of new potent targeted therapies in prostate cancers has led to the resistance and development of highly aggressive variant prostate cancers (AVPC), including neuroendocrine prostate cancers (NEPC). N-MYC and C-MYC oncogenes overexpress in all aggressive prostate cancers (PCa). This overexpression is highly prevalent in these lethal subtypes of cancers, detected in 2% of all Prostate Cancers and over 10-17% of mCRPC patients. Transcriptional targets of CDK9 are MYCs, which act as an oncogenic driver, sufficient to transform human-derived prostate cancer cells to take on AVPC and NEPC phenotypic changes. Additionally, N-MYC and C-MYC play key roles in tumor drug resistance, and their downregulation, through CDK9 inhibition or degradation lowers tumor growth. Our efforts have demonstrated that targeting drivers of NEPC and mCRPC with highly selective CDK9 molecular glue degraders SLX-3064 SLX-3065 was designed from reversible SLX-3039 for therapeutic intervention of mCRPC, AVPC, and NEPCs.

Materials and Methods: We employed our MolecuLernTM-trained molecular glue library design strategies and in vitro CDK9 kinase binding assays. Other experiments include cellular efficacies of single-agent Molecular Glue degraders and their effect in combination experiments on 22Rv1, LASCPC-01, C4-2, and C4-2B MYC expressed PCa cells. Kinase selectivity, Nano BRET, ADME-Tox, in vitro safety, secondary pharmacological assays, Cell engraftment mouse tumor mode, and PK studies were performed.

Results: We designed and synthesized a series of novel small molecule CDK9 Molecular Glue degraders based on our initial CDK9 inhibitor lead SLX-3030 and SLX-3039. The SLX-3064 and SLX-3065 reversibly bind to CDK9 with an IC50 of 9 and 7 nM in kinase binding, in target engagement assays, elicit pharmacological responses in N-MYC, C-MYC, driven prostate cancer cells in vitro in LASCPC-01 (21, 35 nM), 22Rv1 (108, 236 nM), C4-2B (15, 12 nM), C4-2 (2.7, 1.5 nM) and VCap (86, 73 nM) cell lines. SLX-3064 and SLX-3065 exhibited potent activity degrading total, pCDK9, MYCs, Mcl-1, and its downstream RNA Pol II, Ser 2, 5, 7, and pAR Ser-81 in a dose-dependent manner. Additionally, we performed in vitro ADME-Tox, hERG, P450, safety panel screen, and in vivo PK experiments in rodent and beagle dog species.

Conclusion: In summary, both SLX-3064 and SLX-3065 molecular glues display complete degradation of CDK9 and its downstream markers, and these degraders possess ideal developable criteria as oral agents. With these characteristics, SLX-3065 was selected as a candidate that had the appropriate developable properties and our plans for conducting additional IND-enabling studies and future clinical trial plans will also be discussed.

Citation Format: Chenyu Lin, Zhaoliang Li, Kyle Medley, David J. Bearss, Hariprasad Vankayalapati. Discovery of an oral, potent, and selective CDK9 molecular glue degrader SLX-3065 active in aggressive variant prostate cancers (AVPC) [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2024; Part 2 (Late-Breaking, Clinical Trial, and Invited Abstracts); 2024 Apr 5-10; San Diego, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2024;84(7_Suppl):Abstract nr LB161.