JZP3508

Small molecule imipridones including ONC201, ONC206 and ONC212 have anti-cancer activity mediated in part through the integrated stress response, induction of TRAIL and its receptor DR5, and activation of mitochondrial caseinolytic protease ClpP with impaired oxidative phosphorylation...RNA-seq showed ONC201 and EHZ2i tazemetostat-treated cells have similar transcriptional profiles and share overlap of top regulated genes...ONC201 and EZH2i share similar targets and actions on tumors. Synergistic combinations of imipridones plus EZH1/2i or imipridones, EZH2i and HDACi merit further investigation.

The results suggest that treatment of castrate-resistant prostate cancer by imipridones may not be substantially affected by neuroendocrine differentiation as a therapy-resistance mechanism. The results support further testing of imipridones across subtypes of androgen-sensitive and castrate-resistant prostate cancer.

We investigated whether DR5 agonists could rescue mice from toxic effects of radiation and found two different agonists, parenteral PEGylated trimeric-TRAIL (TLY012) and oral TRAIL-Inducing Compound (TIC10/ONC201) could reduce pneumonitis, alveolar-wall thickness, and oxygen desaturation. Irradiated mice had reduced esophagitis characterized by reduced epithelial disruption and muscularis externa thickness following treatment with ONC201 analogue ONC212. The discovery that short-term treatment with TRAIL pathway agonists effectively rescues animals from pneumonitis, dermatitis and esophagitis following high doses of thoracic radiation exposure has important translational implications.

We investigated cell viability, drug synergies, pERK suppression and cytokine, chemokine or growth factor alterations following treatment with 5-Fluorouracil (5-FU) or ONC212 plus MRTX1133 in 6 human CRC and 4 human pancreatic cancer cell lines. Our studies reveal preclinical activity of MRTX1133 alone or synergies when combined with 5-FU or ONC212 against mCRC and pancreatic cancer cells regardless of KRAS G12D mutation. The results suggest that KRAS G12V and KRAS G13D should be further considered in clinical trials including combination therapies involving MRTX1133 and 5-FU or ONC212.

Imipridones are a promising strategy for further testing and development in mUM.

Moreover, inhibition of caspase-9 activity unexpectedly augmented, rather than attenuated, caspase-3 activation and the subsequent cell death. Collectively, our research identifies ONC212 as an atypical mitochondrial-independent, yet Bcl-2/Bcl-xL-inhibitable, caspase-3-mediated apoptotic cell death inducer, highlighting its potential for combination therapies in tumors with defective mitochondrial apoptotic signaling.

The results support the idea that treatment of castrate-resistant prostate cancer by imipridones may not be significantly impacted by neuroendocrine differentiation as a therapy-resistance mechanism. The results support further testing of imipridones across subtypes of androgen-sensitive and castrate-resistant prostate cancer.

The mechanism of impairment of ONC201/206/212 effect caused by dopamine pre-treatment appears to involve upregulation of anti-apoptotic p-Bad, XIAP, FLIP and pAkt. Our results shed light on mechanisms of cancer cell protection by dopamine after imipridone treatment, heterogeneity among different tumor cell types, and suggest that effects of dopamine adaptation on tumor cells may impact on cell survival pathways in ways that may or may not depend on expression of dopamine receptors.

The continuous treatment of U937 cells with the benzene metabolite hydroquinone (HQ) generated U937/HQ cells, exhibiting enhanced responsiveness to the cytotoxic effects of ONC212...Collectively, our data suggested that ONC212 upregulated SLC35F2 expression and triggered NOXA-mediated MCL1 degradation in U937, U937/HQ, and HL-60 cells by activating the AKT/NOX4/HuR/ATF4 pathway. The ONC212-induced signaling pathway showed anti-AML activity and enhanced YM155 cytotoxicity.

Despite advances in treatment, a significant proportion of patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) will relapse with drug-resistant disease.The imipridones, ONC-201 and ONC-212, are effective against a range of different cancers, including acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and tumors of the brain, breast, and prostate. These drugs induce cell death through activation of the mitochondrial protease, caseinolytic protease (CIpP), and the unfolded protein response (UPR).Here we demonstrate that the novel imipridone analog, TR-57, has efficacy as a single agent and synergises with venetoclax against CLL cells under in vitro conditions that mimic the tumor microenvironment. Changes in protein expression suggest TR-57 activates the UPR, inhibits the AKT and ERK1/2 pathways and induces pro-apoptotic changes in the expression of proteins of the BCL-2 family.The study suggests that TR-57, as a single agent and in combination with venetoclax, may represent an effective treatment option for CLL.

ONC201, ONC206, and ONC212 are imipridones showing pro-apoptotic anti-cancer response...Additionally, pediatric solid tumor cells were treated with single-agent therapy with histone deacetylase inhibitors (HDACi) vorinostat, entinostat, and panobinostat, showing cell killing with all 3 HDACi drugs, with panobinostat showing the greatest potency...Our results introduce a novel class of small molecules to treat pediatric solid tumors in a precision medicine framework. Use of impridones in pediatric oncology is novel and shows promising pre-clinical efficacy in pediatric solid tumors, including in combination with HDAC inhibitors.

We treated DMG, GBM and HCC cells with imipridones, EHZ2i tazemetostat or HDACi panobinostat alone or combination of imipridones plus tazemetostat or panobinostat or the triple combination of imipridone plus tazemetostat and panobinostat. Shared regulated pathways in U251 included cell cycle arrest, cell adhesion, nervous system development, cell proliferation, negative regulation of proliferation, PERK-mediated unfolded protein response, extracellular matrix organization, regulation of transcription from RNA polymerase II promoter, and cellular response to hypoxia pathways. We conclude that imipridones ONC201, ONC206, and ONC212 which reduce EZH1 and EZH2 proteins share similar cytokine alterations, gene expression targets and actions with EZH2 inhibitors.