2. Academic Validation
  3. An inhibitor of oxidative phosphorylation exploits cancer vulnerability

An inhibitor of oxidative phosphorylation exploits cancer vulnerability

  • Nat Med. 2018 Jul;24(7):1036-1046. doi: 10.1038/s41591-018-0052-4.
Jennifer R Molina 1 2,  Yuting Sun 1 2,  Marina Protopopova 1 2,  Sonal Gera 1 2,  Madhavi Bandi 1 2,  Christopher Bristow 1 2,  Timothy McAfoos 1,  Pietro Morlacchi 1 3,  Jeffrey Ackroyd 4,  Ahmed-Noor A Agip 5,  Gheath Al-Atrash 6,  John Asara 7,  Jennifer Bardenhagen 1,  Caroline C Carrillo 8,  Christopher Carroll 1,  Edward Chang 1 2,  Stefan Ciurea 6,  Jason B Cross 1,  Barbara Czako 1,  Angela Deem 1 2,  Naval Daver 9,  John Frederick de Groot 8,  Jian-Wen Dong 8,  Ningping Feng 1 2,  Guang Gao 1 2,  Jason Gay 1 2,  Mary Geck Do 1,  Jennifer Greer 1,  Virginia Giuliani 1 2,  Jing Han 1 2,  Lina Han 9,  Verlene K Henry 8,  Judy Hirst 5,  Sha Huang 1,  Yongying Jiang 1,  Zhijun Kang 1,  Tin Khor 1 2,  Sergej Konoplev 10,  Yu-Hsi Lin 4,  Gang Liu 1,  Alessia Lodi 11,  Timothy Lofton 1,  Helen Ma 9,  Mikhila Mahendra 1 2,  Polina Matre 9,  Robert Mullinax 1 2,  Michael Peoples 1 2,  Alessia Petrocchi 1,  Jaime Rodriguez-Canale 12,  Riccardo Serreli 5,  Thomas Shi 1 2,  Melinda Smith 1 2,  Yoko Tabe 9 13,  Jay Theroff 1,  Stefano Tiziani 11,  Quanyun Xu 1,  Qi Zhang 9,  Florian Muller 4,  Ronald A DePinho 14,  Carlo Toniatti 1 2,  Giulio F Draetta 1 2 15,  Timothy P Heffernan 1 2,  Marina Konopleva 9,  Philip Jones 1,  M Emilia Di Francesco 1,  Joseph R Marszalek 16 17
Affiliations

Affiliations

  • 1 Institute for Applied Cancer Science, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, USA.
  • 2 Center for Co-Clinical Trials, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, USA.
  • 3 Agilent Technologies Inc., Lexington, MA, USA.
  • 4 Department of Cancer Imaging Systems, University of Texas MD Cancer Center, Houston, TX, USA.
  • 5 Medical Research Council Mitochondrial Biology Unit, University of Cambridge, Wellcome Trust/MRC Building, Cambridge Biomedical Campus, Cambridge, UK.
  • 6 Department of Stem Cell Transplantation and Cellular Therapy, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, USA.
  • 7 Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
  • 8 Department of Neuro-Oncology, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, USA.
  • 9 Department of Leukemia, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, USA.
  • 10 Department of Hematopathology, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, USA.
  • 11 Department of Nutritional Sciences, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA.
  • 12 Department of Translational Molecular Pathology, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, USA.
  • 13 Department of Next Generation Hematology Laboratory Medicine, Department of Laboratory Medicine, Juntendo University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan.
  • 14 Department of Cancer Biology, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, USA.
  • 15 Department of Genomic Medicine, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, USA.
  • 16 Institute for Applied Cancer Science, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, USA. jrmarszalek@mdanderson.org.
  • 17 Center for Co-Clinical Trials, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, USA. jrmarszalek@mdanderson.org.
PMID: 29892070 DOI: 10.1038/s41591-018-0052-4
Abstract

Metabolic reprograming is an emerging hallmark of tumor biology and an actively pursued opportunity in discovery of oncology drugs. Extensive efforts have focused on therapeutic targeting of glycolysis, whereas drugging mitochondrial Oxidative Phosphorylation (OXPHOS) has remained largely unexplored, partly owing to an incomplete understanding of tumor contexts in which OXPHOS is essential. Here, we report the discovery of IACS-010759, a clinical-grade small-molecule inhibitor of complex I of the mitochondrial electron transport chain. Treatment with IACS-010759 robustly inhibited proliferation and induced Apoptosis in models of brain Cancer and acute myeloid leukemia (AML) reliant on OXPHOS, likely owing to a combination of energy depletion and reduced aspartate production that leads to impaired nucleotide biosynthesis. In models of brain Cancer and AML, tumor growth was potently inhibited in vivo following IACS-010759 treatment at well-tolerated doses. IACS-010759 is currently being evaluated in phase 1 clinical trials in relapsed/refractory AML and solid tumors.

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