Abstract 1211: Lurbinectedin reverses platinum dependent IRF1 overexpression and nuclear localization, partially responsible for resistance to platinum drugs in ovarian cancer
Authors: Gema Santamaria Nuñez, Maria Jose Guillén, Juan F. Martínez-Leal, Pablo Avilés, Carlos M. Galmarini
Journal: Cancer Research (2017)

Abstract Lurbinectedin (PM1183) is a new synthetic compound from the tetrahydroisoquinoline family, which has demonstrated a strong antiproliferative activity against a panel of human tumor models in preclinical assays and is currently being evaluated in phase III clinical trials in platinum-resistant ovarian cancer and small cell lung cancer. Lurbinectedin binds to DNA, inhibits trans-activated transcription, induces the degradation of elongating RNA Pol II and fools nucleotide excision repair to produce dsDNA breaks that need to be repaired mainly by homologous recombination (HR)1,2. Nearly 70% of patients diagnosed with ovarian cancer are in advanced stage, and the vast majority of them will eventually relapse after a primary cytoreductive surgery and several cycles of standard adjuvant chemotherapy including a platinum drug and a taxane. After a period of treatment with platinum drugs, patients will finally develop resistance, usually mediated by mechanisms such as drug detoxification or efflux and enhanced DNA repair. IRF-1 transcription factor expression has been shown to be up-regulated by cisplatin (CDDP) in ovarian cancer cells and might be limiting the response to the drug, likely by inhibiting cell proliferation3. Here we took advantage of the A2780/A2780cis human ovarian cancer cell lines, the second being a cisplatin resistant derivative, to investigate the role of IRF1 in the response of human ovarian cancer cells to cisplatin and lurbinectedin. A2780cis cells are, indeed, more resistant to cisplatin that their parental cell line but they do not differ in their resistance to lurbinectedin. Basal IRF-1 protein levels were actually higher in A2780cis cells than in their parental cell line, contributing to their resistance to cisplatin. Furthermore, cisplatin treatment induced the overexpression and nuclear localization of IRF-1 both, in A2780 and A2780cis cell lines. Contrarily, lurbinectedin did not induce the overexpression of IRF-1 neither in A2780 nor in A2780cis, explaining why this latter cell line is not resistant to the compound. Furthermore, lurbinectedin co-treatment with cisplatin reduced the expression of IRF-1 in A2780 and, more importantly, in A2780cis cells, explaining the synergism the combination has on these tumor cell lines. Thus, lurbinectedin not only did not activate the same mechanisms of resistance as cisplatin in ovarian cancer cells, but even reversed the resistance of these resistant cells to platinum drugs. 1 Santamaría Nuñez et al, 2016. Mol Cancer Ther 15(10):2399-2412 2 Romano et al, 2013. Int J Cancer. 2013 Nov;133(9):2024-33 3 Pavan et al, 2013. Eur J Cancer 49(4):964-973 Citation Format: Gema Santamaria Nuñez, Maria Jose Guillén, Juan F. Martínez-Leal, Pablo Avilés, Carlos M. Galmarini. Lurbinectedin reverses platinum dependent IRF1 overexpression and nuclear localization, partially responsible for resistance to platinum drugs in ovarian cancer [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2017; 2017 Apr 1-5; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2017;77(13 Suppl):Abstract nr 1211. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2017-1211