Abstract 7578: BRD4 protein degradation for p53 mutant diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma (DIPG) via various delivery approaches for ARV-825 by using camel milk exosomes
Authors: Nathani Aakash , Aare Mounika , Sun Li , Li Yan , Singh Mandip 
Published: March 2024

DIPGs (diffuse intrinsic pontine gliomas) are a particularly aggressive and malignant type of pediatric brain tumor. Given the tumor's location, surgery has a restricted role, and it is insensitive to most chemotherapies. Although fractionated radiation is the standard of therapy for DIPG, the cancer invariably worsens in 6-12 months. TP53 tumor suppressor protein mutations are found in 70-80% of DIPG tumors. These TP53 mutations have been linked to radiation resistance in DIPG patients. Our goal was to find new pharmacological compounds that would improve the radiation sensitivity of p53 mutant DIPG cell lines and to determine their molecular mechanism of action. Numerous bromodomain-containing protein 4 (BRD4) inhibitors have entered clinical trials in recent years, yielding promising outcomes in tumor treatment since BRD4 expression in DIPG is substantially higher than in neighboring normal brain tissue. So consequently, BRD4 is a target for DIPG treatment. ARV-825 is an emerging PROTAC (Proteolysis Targeting Chimera) compound which can cause rapid and persistent BRD4 protein degradation. However, delivering ARV-825 to pons is a major challenge owing to poor oral bioavailability of PROTACS. In this study, we used camel milk derived exosomes (CME) for delivery of ARV-825 to pons by both nasal and oral routes. To begin with, goat milk exosomes were also considered but CME was chosen because of its innate cytotoxicity against DIPG cell lines. CME were isolated using ultracentrifugation and nanoparticle tracking analysis and revealed a size distribution of 112.5 ± 2.8 nm, zeta potential of -26.38 ± 0.12 mV. CME (1*1011) were cytotoxic to both SF8628 (with a H3.3 K27M mutation) and SF188 (grade IV pediatric glioblastoma with wild type H3.3) cell lines and had 51% and 44% cell viability respectively. ARV-825 showed IC50 of 546.58 ± 22.14 nM and 608.94 ± 30.04 nM in SF8628 cells and SF188 cells respectively. ARV-825’s IC50 was lowered when ARV-825 loaded CME were used. ARV-825 was loaded using sonication and entrapment efficiency was found to be 42.96 ± 2.14 % by HPLC analysis. CME were labelled with Vybrant DiO (CME-DIO) and instilled into each nostril of Sprague Dawley rats daily. Brain sections were viewed with fluorescent microscope and CME-DIO were seen in olfactory region after 3 days and in the pons region after 5 days demonstrating the ability of CME to reach the target site. In-vitro permeability studies using MDCK cells showed approximately 9µg/mL (60%), 15µg/mL (80%) and 16µg/mL (100%) of ARV-825 permeation in 2, 4 and 24 hours respectively when loaded into CME. The results of the present study suggest the possibility of using CME as a viable delivery strategy for ARV-825 against DIPG. Further in vitro and in vivo studies are currently undergoing to validate the results and understand kinetics and the molecular mechanisms of ARV-825 loaded CME.

Citation Format: Aakash Nathani, Mounika Aare, Li Sun, Yan Li, Mandip Singh. BRD4 protein degradation for p53 mutant diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma (DIPG) via various delivery approaches for ARV-825 by using camel milk exosomes [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 7578.