Preclinical Study Of Epigenetic Drug-Based Differentiation Therapy For Neuroblastoma

Proceedings: AACR 107th Annual Meeting 2016; April 16-20, 2016; New Orleans, LANeuroblastoma (NBL) is the most common extracranial solid tumor in children. We previously reported that the CpG island methylator phenotype (CIMP) of NBL was strongly associated with poor prognosis, and also suggested that CIMP may be a possible target for DNA demethylation therapy. Differentiation therapy with 13-cis-retinoic acid has already been established as the standard for high-risk NBLs in the USA.In this study, we aimed to establish an “epigenetic drug-based differentiation therapy” using a combination of a DNA demethylating agent (5-aza-2’-deoxycytidine: 5-Aza-CdR) and a differentiation agent (tamibarotene: TBT), a new synthetic retinoid. Treatment with 5-Aza-CdR suppressed the growth of 12 NBL cell lines by increasing the number of cells in the S-phase. Genome-wide DNA methylation analysis revealed that 5-Aza-CdR treatment induced global DNA hypomethylation, and that genes related to cell death and neurological processes were enriched as hypomethylated genes, suggesting that DNA demethylation therapy might assist the differentiation agent in inducing neuron differentiation. TBT induced differentiation of five NBL cell lines along with induction of neural extension and upregulation of differentiation markers, such as HOXD4, NGFR, and NTRK1. Pretreatment with 5-Aza-CdR increased the expression levels of differentiation markers, indicating that 5-Aza-CdR enhanced TBT-induced differentiation in vitro. Finally, the tumor suppression effect of 5-Aza-CdR and TBT in vivo was investigated using a mouse xenograft model of KELLY and NB-1 cell lines. Although a synergistic effect of 5-Aza-CdR and TBT was not apparent, they could induce significant tumor regression without severe side-effects.From these data, we concluded that 5-Aza-CdR and TBT had antitumor activity in vitro and in vivo, and that epigenetic drug-based differentiation therapy is a promising therapeutic strategy for NBL.Citation Format: Naoko Hattori, Akiko Mori, Kana Kimura, Emi Kubo, Kiyoshi Asada, Hiroshi Kawamoto, Toshikazu Ushijima. Preclinical study of epigenetic drug-based differentiation therapy for neuroblastoma. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 107th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2016 Apr 16-20; New Orleans, LA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2016;76(14 Suppl):Abstract nr LB-245.