Position of lipidation influences anticancer activity of Smac analogs

A small group of lipid-conjugated Smac mimetics was synthesized to probe the influence of the position of lipidation on overall anti-cancer activity. Specifically, new compounds were modified with lipid(s) in position 3 and C-terminus. Previously described position 2 lipidated analog M11 was also synthesized. The resulting mini library of Smacs lipidated in positions 2, 3 and C-terminus was screened extensively in vitro against a total number of 50 diverse cancer cell lines revealing that both the position of lipidation as well as the type of lipid, influence their anti-cancer activity and cancer type specificity. Moreover, when used in combination therapy with inhibitor of menin–MLL1 protein interactions, position 2 modified analog SM2 showed strong synergistic anti-cancer properties. The most promising lipid-conjugated analogs SM2 and SM6, showed favorable pharmacokinetics and in vivo activity while administered subcutaneously in the preclinical mouse model. Collectively, our findings suggest that lipid modification of Smacs may be a viable approach in the development of anti-cancer therapeutic leads.     

Identification of two poorly prognosed ovarian carcinoma subtypes associated with CHEK2 germ-line mutation and non-CHEK2 somatic mutation gene signatures

High-grade serous ovarian cancer (HG-SOC), a major histologic type of epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC), is a poorly-characterized, heterogeneous and lethal disease where somatic mutations of TP53 are common and inherited loss-of-function mutations in BRCA1/2 predispose to cancer in 9.5–13% of EOC patients. However, the overall burden of disease due to either inherited or sporadic mutations is not known.

We performed bioinformatics analyses of mutational and clinical data of 334 HG-SOC tumor samples from The Cancer Genome Atlas to identify novel tumor-driving mutations, survival-significant patient subgroups and tumor subtypes potentially driven by either hereditary or sporadic factors.

We identified a sub-cluster of high-frequency mutations in 22 patients and 58 genes associated with DNA damage repair, apoptosis and cell cycle. Mutations of CHEK2, observed with the highest intensity, were associated with poor therapy response and overall survival (OS) of these patients (P = 8.00e-05), possibly due to detrimental effect of mutations at the nuclear localization signal. A 21-gene mutational prognostic signature significantly stratifies patients into relatively low or high-risk subgroups with 5-y OS of 37% or 6%, respectively (P = 7.31e-08). Further analysis of these genes and high-risk subgroup revealed 2 distinct classes of tumors characterized by either germline mutations of genes such as CHEK2, RPS6KA2 and MLL4, or somatic mutations of other genes in the signature.

Our results could provide improvement in prediction and clinical management of HG-SOC, facilitate our understanding of this complex disease, guide the design of targeted therapeutics and improve screening efforts to identify women at high-risk of hereditary ovarian cancers distinct from those associated with BRCA1/2 mutations.     

Breakpoints of t(4;11) translocations in the human MLL and AF4 genes in ALL patients are preferentially clustered outside of high-affinity matrix attachment regions.

Chromosomal translocations t(4;11) are based on illegitimate recombinations between the human MLL and AF4 genes, and are associated with high-risk acute leukemias of infants and young children. Here, the question was asked, whether a correlation exists between the location of translocation breakpoints within both genes and the location of S/MARs. In "halo mapping experiments" (to define SARs), about 20 kb of MLL DNA was found to be attached to the nuclear matrix. Similar experiments performed for the translocation partner gene AF4 revealed that SARs are spanning nearly the complete breakpoint cluster region of the AF4 gene. By using short DNA fragments in "scaffold reassociation experiments" (to define MARs), similar results were obtained for both genes. However, Distamycin A competition experiments in combination with "scaffold reassociation experiments" revealed specific differences in the affinity of each tested DNA fragment to bind the isolated nuclear matrix proteins. When the latter data were compared with the known location of chromosomal breakpoints for both genes, an unexpected correlation was observed. DNA areas with strong MAR affinity contained fewer translocation breakpoints, while areas with weak or absent MAR affinity showed a higher density of chromosomal breakpoints.     

Structure-based design of ester compounds to inhibit MLL complex catalytic activity by targeting mixed lineage leukemia 1 (MLL1)–WDR5 interaction

WDR5 is an essential protein for enzymatic activity of MLL1. Targeting the protein–protein interaction (PPI) between MLL1 and WDR5 represents a new potential therapeutic strategy for MLL leukemia. Based on the structure of reported inhibitor WDR5-0103, a class of ester compounds were designed and synthetized to disturb MLL1–WDR5 PPI. These inhibitors efficiently inhibited the histone methyltransferase activity in vitro. Especially, WL-15 was one of the most potent inhibitors, blocking the interaction of MLL1–WDR5 with IC₅₀ value of 26.4 nM in competitive binding assay and inhibiting the catalytic activity of MLL1 complex with IC₅₀ value of 5.4 μM. Docking model indicated that ester compounds suitably occupied the central cavity of WDR5 protein and recapitulated the interactions of WDR5-0103 and the hydrophobic groups and key amino greatly increased the activity in blocking MLL1–WDR5 PPI.