MCT4 blockade increases the efficacy of immune checkpoint blockade

BACKGROUND & AIMS

Intratumoral lactate accumulation and acidosis impair T-cell function and antitumor immunity. Interestingly, expression of the lactate transporter monocarboxylate transporter (MCT) 4, but not MCT1, turned out to be prognostic for the survival of patients with rectal cancer, indicating that single MCT4 blockade might be a promising strategy to overcome glycolysis-related therapy resistance.

METHODS

To determine whether blockade of MCT4 alone is sufficient to improve the efficacy of immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) therapy, we examined the effects of the selective MCT1 inhibitor AZD3965 and a novel MCT4 inhibitor in a colorectal carcinoma (CRC) tumor spheroid model co-cultured with blood leukocytes in vitro and the MC38 murine CRC model in vivo in combination with an antibody against programmed cell death ligand-1(PD-L1).

RESULTS

Inhibition of MCT4 was sufficient to reduce lactate efflux in three-dimensional (3D) CRC spheroids but not in two-dimensional cell-cultures. Co-administration of the MCT4 inhibitor and ICB augmented immune cell infiltration, T-cell function and decreased CRC spheroid viability in a 3D co-culture model of human CRC spheroids with blood leukocytes. Accordingly, combination of MCT4 and ICB increased intratumoral pH, improved leukocyte infiltration and T-cell activation, delayed tumor growth, and prolonged survival in vivo. MCT1 inhibition exerted no further beneficial impact.

CONCLUSIONS

These findings demonstrate that single MCT4 inhibition represents a novel therapeutic approach to reverse lactic-acid driven immunosuppression and might be suitable to improve ICB efficacy.

Discovery of 5-{2-[5-Chloro-2-(5-ethoxyquinoline-8-sulfonamido)phenyl]ethynyl}-4-methoxypyridine-2-carboxylic Acid, a Highly Selective in Vivo Useable Chemical Probe to Dissect MCT4 Biology

Due to increased lactate production during glucose metabolism, tumor cells heavily rely on efficient lactate transport to avoid intracellular lactate accumulation and acidification. Monocarboxylate transporter 4 (MCT4/SLC16A3) is a lactate transporter that plays a central role in tumor pH modulation. The discovery and optimization of a novel class of MCT4 inhibitors (hit 9a), identified by a cellular screening in MDA-MB-231, is described. Direct target interaction of the optimized compound 18n with the cytosolic domain of MCT4 was shown after solubilization of the GFP-tagged transporter by fluorescence cross-correlation spectroscopy and microscopic studies. In vitro treatment with 18n resulted in lactate efflux inhibition and reduction of cellular viability in MCT4 high expressing cells. Moreover, pharmacokinetic properties of 18n allowed assessment of lactate modulation and antitumor activity in a mouse tumor model. Thus, 18n represents a valuable tool for investigating selective MCT4 inhibition and its effect on tumor biology.

Open PHACTS computational protocols for in silico target validation of cellular phenotypic screens: knowing the knowns

Phenotypic screening is in a renaissance phase and is expected by many academic and industry leaders to accelerate the discovery of new drugs for new biology. Given that phenotypic screening is per definition target agnostic, the emphasis of in silico and in vitro follow-up work is on the exploration of possible molecular mechanisms and efficacy targets underlying the biological processes interrogated by the phenotypic screening experiments. Herein, we present six exemplar computational protocols for the interpretation of cellular phenotypic screens based on the integration of compound, target, pathway, and disease data established by the IMI Open PHACTS project. The protocols annotate phenotypic hit lists and allow follow-up experiments and mechanistic conclusions. The annotations included are from ChEMBL, ChEBI, GO, WikiPathways and DisGeNET. Also provided are protocols which select from the IUPHAR/BPS Guide to PHARMACOLOGY interaction file selective compounds to probe potential targets and a correlation robot which systematically aims to identify an overlap of active compounds in both the phenotypic as well as any kinase assay. The protocols are applied to a phenotypic pre-lamin A/C splicing assay selected from the ChEMBL database to illustrate the process. The computational protocols make use of the Open PHACTS API and data and are built within the Pipeline Pilot and KNIME workflow tools.

A small nonrule of 3 compatible fragment library provides high hit rate of endothiapepsin crystal structures with various fragment chemotypes

Druglike molecules are defined by Lipinski's rule of 5, to characterize fragment thresholds, they have been reduced from 5 to 3 (Astex's rule of 3). They are applied to assemble fragment libraries, and providers use them to select fragments for commercial offer. We question whether these rules are too stringent to compose fragment libraries with candidates exhibiting sufficient room for chemical subsequent growing and merging modifications as appropriate functional groups for chemical transformations are required. Usually these groups exhibit properties as hydrogen bond donors/acceptors and provide entry points for optimization chemistry. We therefore designed a fragment library (364 entries) without strictly applying the rule of 3. For initial screening for endothiapepsin binding, we performed a biochemical cleavage assay of a fluorogenic substrate at 1 mM. "Hits" were defined to inhibit the enzyme by at least 40%. Fifty-five hits were suggested and subsequently soaked into endothiapepsin crystals. Eleven crystal structures could be determined covering fragments with diverse binding modes: (i) direct binding to the catalytic dyad aspartates, (ii) water-mediated binding to the aspartates, (iii) no direct interaction with the dyad. They occupy different specificity pockets. Only 4 of the 11 fragments are consistent with the rule of 3. Restriction to this rule would have limited the fragment hits to a strongly reduced variety of chemotypes.

Inhibition of endothelial cell functions by novel potential cancer chemopreventive agents

Endothelial cells (EC) play a major role in tumor-induced neovascularization and bridge the gap between a microtumor and growth factors such as nutrients and oxygen supply required for expansion. Immortalized human microvascular endothelial cells (HMEC-1) were utilized to assess anti-endothelial effects of 10 novel potential cancer chemopreventive compounds from various sources that we have investigated previously in a human in vitro anti-angiogenic assay. These include the monoacylphloroglucinol isoaspidinol B, 1,2,5,7-tetrahydroxy-anthraquinone, peracetylated carnosic acid (PCA), isoxanthohumol, 2,2',4'-trimethoxychalcone, 3'-bromo-2,4-dimethoxychalcone as well as four synthetic derivatives of lunularic acid, a bibenzyl found in mosses [Int. J. Cancer Prev. 1 (2004) 47]. EC proliferation was inhibited with half-maximal inhibitory concentrations from 0.3 to 49.6muM, whereas EC migration was affected by most compounds at sub-micromolar concentrations. PCA and the bibenzyl derivative EC 1004 potently prevented differentiation of HMEC-1 into tubule-like structures. Overall, our data indicate that inhibition of endothelial cell function contributes to various extents to the chemopreventive or anti-angiogenic potential of these lead compounds.

Identification of benzothiazoles as potential polyglutamine aggregation inhibitors of Huntington's disease by using an automated filter retardation assay

Preventing the formation of insoluble polyglutamine containing protein aggregates in neurons may represent an attractive therapeutic strategy to ameliorate Huntington's disease (HD). Therefore, the ability to screen for small molecules that suppress the self-assembly of huntingtin would have potential clinical and significant research applications. We have developed an automated filter retardation assay for the rapid identification of chemical compounds that prevent HD exon 1 protein aggregation in vitro. Using this method, a total of 25 benzothiazole derivatives that inhibit huntingtin fibrillogenesis in a dose-dependent manner were discovered from a library of approximately 184,000 small molecules. The results obtained by the filter assay were confirmed by immunoblotting, electron microscopy, and mass spectrometry. Furthermore, cell culture studies revealed that 2-amino-4,7-dimethyl-benzothiazol-6-ol, a chemical compound similar to riluzole, significantly inhibits HD exon 1 aggregation in vivo. These findings may provide the basis for a new therapeutic approach to prevent the accumulation of insoluble protein aggregates in Huntington's disease and related glutamine repeat disorders.

Nuclear factor kappa B is a molecular target for sulforaphane-mediated anti-inflammatory mechanisms

Sulforaphane (SFN), an aliphatic isothiocyanate, is a known cancer chemopreventive agent. Aiming to investigate anti-inflammatory mechanisms of SFN, we here report a potent decrease in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced secretion of pro-inflammatory and pro-carcinogenic signaling factors in cultured Raw 264.7 macrophages after SFN treatment, i.e. NO, prostaglandin E(2), and tumor necrosis factor alpha. SFN did not directly interact with NO, nor did it inhibit inducible nitric-oxide synthase enzymatic activity. Western blot analyses revealed time- and dose-dependent reduction of LPS-induced inducible nitric-oxide synthase as well as Cox-2 protein expression, which was suppressed at the transcriptional level. To reveal the target of SFN beyond its anti-inflammatory action, we performed electrophoretic mobility shift assay analyses of transcription factor-DNA binding. Consequently, nuclear factor kappa B (NF-kappa B), a pivotal transcription factor in LPS-stimulated pro-inflammatory response, was identified as the key mediator. SFN selectively reduced DNA binding of NF-kappa B without interfering with LPS-induced degradation of the inhibitor of NF-kappa B nor with nuclear translocation of NF-kappa B. Because SFN can interact with thiol groups by dithiocarbamate formation, it may impair the redox-sensitive DNA binding and transactivation of NF-kappa B. Sulforaphane could either directly inactivate NF-kappa B subunits by binding to essential Cys residues or interact with glutathione or other redox regulators like thioredoxin and Ref-1 relevant for NF-kappa B function. Our data provide novel evidence that anti-inflammatory mechanisms contribute to sulforaphane-mediated cancer chemoprevention.