Abstract 3757: The development of MAGMAS as a potential therapeutic target in temozolomide-resistant glioma
Authors: Tran Jennifer D. , Lepe Javier J. , Kenney Maria C. , Das Bhaskar C. , Bota Daniela A. 
Published: March 2024

Glioblastoma (GBM) is one of the most aggressive types of brain cancer and remains a significant challenge for drug development in oncology today. Temozolomide (TMZ) is the standard of care for GBM, and resistance to this drug is modulated partly by the DNA repair enzyme O6-methylguanine-DNA methyltransferase (MGMT). Clinical studies demonstrated that low MGMT expression in GBM enhances sensitivity to TMZ and prolongs survival for patients. However, recent clinical studies indicate MGMT is a discordant biomarker since the predictive value of MGMT methylation is relatively low and there is a lack of modalities to inhibit MGMT expression. Furthermore, glioma stem cells (GSC) are another contributing factor for resistance due to tumor heterogeneity, self-renewal capacity and activation of DNA repair responses to overcome the effect of radiation and TMZ treatment. These resistance mechanisms contribute to tumor recurrence and present major impediments for the development of effective treatments.

MAGMAS, 13.8 kDa mitochondria protein, is a translocase of the inner mitochondrial membrane and regulates oxidative phosphorylation. Specifically, MAGMAS regulates the ATP stimulatory activity of DNAJC19 on mtHSP70 that drives the movement of peptides through the TIM23 complex into the mitochondrial matrix. Recent evidence suggests that MAGMAS can regulate oxidative phosphorylation via interactions with the respiratory complexes present in the inner mitochondrial membrane. Previously, our lab has shown MAGMAS overexpression in malignant glioma tissues of patients and murine intracranial xenografts. Additionally, pharmacological inhibition of MAGMAS with the small molecule BT9 promoted cytotoxicity and impaired respiratory functions in malignant glioma cells demonstrating that MAGMAS is a promising potential target for GBM patients. However, further studies are needed to investigate the role of MAGMAS across the spectrum from initial tumorigenesis to disease progression and to further determine how MAGMAS is implicated during the development of treatment resistance.

This study is designed to investigate the role of MAGMAS in GSCs and their contribution to TMZ resistance. We observed temozolomide-resistant (TR) U251-TR and D54 MG-TR GBM cell lines expressed significantly higher levels of MAGMAS and several stem cell markers than their drug-sensitive (S) parental cell lines. Therefore, we hypothesized that silencing MAGMAS re-sensitizes TR GBM cell lines to TMZ. We found that MAGMAS knockdown in D54-MG and U251 S/TR cells in the presence of escalating TMZ concentrations, caused enhanced sensitivity to TMZ. Consistent with these results, inhibition of MAGMAS with the novel BT9 inhibitor enhances the TMZ sensitivity in the TMZ-resistant cell lines. Additional studies of patient-derived cell lines are being utilized further to validate MAGMAS as it is an attractive target in TMZ-resistant GBM patients.

Citation Format: Jennifer D. Tran, Javier J. Lepe, Maria C. Kenney, Bhaskar C. Das, Daniela A. Bota. The development of MAGMAS as a potential therapeutic target in temozolomide-resistant glioma [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2024; Part 1 (Regular Abstracts); 2024 Apr 5-10; San Diego, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2024;84(6_Suppl):Abstract nr 3757.