Abstract LB256: New mechanistic insights into cisplatin resistance in muscle-invasive bladder cancer

Abstract The standard of care for eligible patients with muscle-invasive bladder cancer (MIBC) is cisplatin-based neoadjuvant chemotherapy followed by radical cystectomy. However, platinum-based treatments leave up to 70% of MIBC patients with residual disease, and the 5-year survival rate for these individuals is under 30%. Understanding cisplatin resistance mechanisms will improve MIBC treatment by developing more effective therapeutics and precision medicine strategies. We previously identified NPEPPS, an M1 aminopeptidase, as a novel and potentially targetable mediator of platinum drug response. Recently, we have established that NPEPPS controls platinum drug import through its interactions with volume regulated anion channels (VRACs), which have been shown to import cisplatin to cells directly. We have shown that NPEPPS interacts with key VRAC subunit SWELL1 at the cell membrane and that intact SWELL1 is required for NPEPPS-mediated platinum resistance. We further discovered that NPEPPS cannot bind SWELL1 when its enzymatic aminopeptidase function is disrupted genetically or pharmacologically. In vivo studies showed that catalytic-dead NPEPPS-mutant MIBC xenografts were sensitive to cisplatin treatment compared to NPEPPS-wildtype xenografts. Patient cohort data analysis supported the model that the expression of NPEPPS and its relative expression with VRAC proteins are associated with overall survival in treatment-resistant MIBC patients. These findings shed light on how bladder cancer cells resist chemotherapy by disrupting the transport of drugs into cells and suggest new ways to target NPEPPS to enhance the effectiveness of platinum-based therapeutics in treating bladder cancer. Citation Format: Lily Elizabeth R. Feldman, Saswat Mohapatra, Robert Jones, Charlene Tilton, Tahlita Zuiverloon, James Costello, Dan Theodorescu. New mechanistic insights into cisplatin resistance in muscle-invasive bladder cancer [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2024; Part 2 (Late-Breaking, Clinical Trial, and Invited Abstracts); 2024 Apr 5-10; San Diego, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2024;84(7_Suppl):Abstract nr LB256.