Abstract 3578: A systematic NEN spheroid drug screen reveals a novel drug resistance mechanism in small bowel NETs
Authors: Tran Catherine G. , Borbon Luis C. , Tow Dane H. , Shilyansky Jonathan , Li Guiying , Egan James , Sherman Scott K. , Abusada Ellen , Tang Jing , govindan Ramaswamy , Fields Ryan C. , Braun Terry A. , Chan Carlos HF , Chandrasekharan Chandrikha , Spitz Douglas , Quelle Dawn E. , Bellizzi Andrew M. , Howe James R. , Ear Po Hien 
Published: March 2024

Neuroendocrine neoplasms (NENs) are rare cancers that arise from neuroendocrine cells. NENs are classified as well-differentiated neuroendocrine tumors (NETs) and poorly differentiated neuroendocrine carcinomas (NECs). Small bowel NETs (SBNETs) and pancreatic NETs (PNETs) are generally slow growing but they commonly metastasize to the liver and can become aggressive cancers. NECs are rapidly growing, and patients have poor prognosis. Little is known about the drug sensitivity profile of SBNETs, PNETs and NECs due to a paucity of cellular and animal models of these malignancies. We have successfully cultured NEN cells from clinical samples as patient-derived spheroids (PDS) and showed that they express appropriate tumor markers. We systematically screened 20 NEN (12 SBNET, 5 PNET, and 3 NEC) spheroid cultures against a library of 175 compounds (147 FDA-approved anti-cancer drugs, 8 lab selected compounds, and 20 structurally diverse molecules) and compared their drug sensitivity profiles to identify the most effective drug classes and to better understand the biology of each NEN subtype. Top drug hits were validated for their anti-tumor properties in NEN PDS and patient-derived xenograft (PDX) mouse models. Our NEN PDS cultures identified common and unique drug sensitivity profiles for each type of NEN. SBNET spheroids were more resistant to many classes of anti-cancer drugs, which was due to overexpression of cytochrome P450 genes. Consistent with clinical findings, PNET spheroids showed increased sensitivity to tyrosine kinase and mTOR/PI3K inhibitors compared to SBNET & NEC spheroids. NEC spheroids showed the broadest sensitivity to many anti-neoplastic compounds. The top candidate drug identified from our screen was romidepsin, a histone deacetylase inhibitor. Romidepsin displayed anti-tumor properties in vitro and in vivo for all 3 NEN models and was highly synergistic with rapamycin, an mTOR inhibitor similar to the SBNET approved drug everolimus. Excitingly, low-dose romidepsin effectively inhibited tumor growth when combined with low-dose rapamycin in an SBNET PDX mouse model. These NEN PDS drug screens enabled direct drug testing in primary tumor cultures to identify promising drugs that could be used alone or in combination with currently approved-NEN therapies. Histone deacetylase inhibitors, such as romidepsin, may be effective against SBNETs. NEN PDS models also serve as a valuable resource for understanding the unique biology and mechanisms of drug resistance for specific NEN subtypes.

Citation Format: Catherine G. Tran, Luis C. Borbon, Dane H. Tow, Jonathan Shilyansky, Guiying Li, James Egan, Scott K. Sherman, Ellen Abusada, Jing Tang, Ramaswamy govindan, Ryan C. Fields, Terry A. Braun, Carlos HF Chan, Chandrikha Chandrasekharan, Douglas Spitz, Dawn E. Quelle, Andrew M. Bellizzi, James R. Howe, Po Hien Ear. A systematic NEN spheroid drug screen reveals a novel drug resistance mechanism in small bowel NETs [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 3578.