Abstract 3044: Novel agents with efficacy against germline mutant RUNX1 familial platelet disorder with myeloid malignancy (FPD-MM)
Authors: Christopher P. Mill, Warren C. Fiskus, Courtney D. DiNardo, Patrick K. Reville, John A. Davis, Christine E. Birdwell, Kaberi Das, Hanxi Hou, Koichi Takahashi, Sanam Loghavi, Joseph D. Khoury, Kapil Bhalla
Journal: Cancer Research (2024)

Abstract RUNX1 is a master-transcriptional regulator involved in normal and malignant hematopoiesis. Germline, mono-allelic, missense mutations in RUNX1 cause large deletions or truncations that are mostly loss-of-function mutations. They cause familial platelet disorder (RUNX1-FPD), which evolves into myeloid malignancy (FPD-MM), e.g., MDS or AML. Although curative in some patients, allogeneic stem cell transplantation from matched, un-related donors carries the risk of GVHD and relapse in FPD-MM. Thus, there is a need for novel therapies to revert FPD-MM back to FPD. LINCS1000-CMap analysis, of the RUNX1 knockdown RNA-Seq signature revealed homoharringtonine (HHT or omacetaxine) and the anthelmintic fenbendazole (analog of mebendazole (MB)) as the top expression mimickers. In our current studies, we demonstrate that treatment with HHT or MB induced significantly greater loss of viability in seven patient-derived samples of FPD-MM vs RUNX1-FPD. Analyses conducted on BMA cells harvested longitudinally from the same patient at the RUNX1-FPD versus FPD-MM stage demonstrated greater chromatin accessibility in FPD-MM cells along with increased mRNA expressions of MYB, MECOM and BCL2. Following HHT treatment, scRNA-Seq analysis demonstrated a marked reduction in the HSC population, but concomitant increase in the macrophage population in FPD-MM. This was associated with positive enrichment of apoptosis signaling and TP53 targets gene-sets, while negatively enriching those of c-Myc targets. CyTOF analysis demonstrated that HHT treatment reduced c-Myc, EVI1, MCL1, BFL1 and CDK6 expression in phenotypically characterized FPD-MM stem-progenitor cells. Utilizing an FPD-MM sample harboring Runx1 K194N, also detected in other pedigree members with FPD or FPD-MM, we established the first ever cell line (GMR-AML1) expressing germline mtRUNX1. GMR-AML1 cells exhibited high surface expression of CD117 (c-KIT), CD123 (IL-3R) and CD33. GMR-AML1 cells in which Runx1 was knocked-out by CRISPR-gRNA were outcompeted in vitro and in vivo, by cells that retained Runx1. Treatment with HHT or MB induced loss of viability in GMR-AML1 cells (LD50: 40 or 330 nM, respectively). HHT also caused concordant decline in ATAC-Seq and RNA-Seq peaks in ribosomal genes involved in protein translation. Treatment with MB inhibited cell cycle and protein translation. CyTOF analysis revealed that MB treatment also depleted CDK6, RUNX1, c-Myc and EVI1 in phenotypically defined FPD-MM stem cells. Finally, in the GMR-AML1 cell xenograft, treatment with omacetaxine or MB significantly reduced AML burden and improved overall survival of NSG mice. These preclinical findings highlight the molecular features associated with progression of RUNX1-FPD to FPD-MM and highlight HHT or MB as effective against cellular models of FPD-MM. Citation Format: Christopher P. Mill, Warren C. Fiskus, Courtney D. DiNardo, Patrick K. Reville, John A. Davis, Christine E. Birdwell, Kaberi Das, Hanxi Hou, Koichi Takahashi, Sanam Loghavi, Joseph D. Khoury, Kapil Bhalla. Novel agents with efficacy against germline mutant RUNX1 familial platelet disorder with myeloid malignancy (FPD-MM) [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 3044.