Polθ inhibitors elicit BRCA-gene synthetic lethality and target PARP inhibitor resistance.

Zatreanu, Diana; Robinson, Helen MR; Alkhatib, Omar; Boursier, Marie; Finch, Harry; Geo, Lerin; Grande, Diego; Grinkevich, Vera; Heald, Robert A; Langdon, Sophie; Majithiya, Jayesh; McWhirter, Claire; Martin, Niall MB; Moore, Shaun; Neves, Joana; Rajendra, Eeson; Ranzani, Marco; Schaedler, Theresia; Stockley, Martin; Wiggins, Kimberley; Brough, Rachel; Sridhar, Sandhya; Gulati, Aditi; Shao, Nan; Badder, Luned M; Novo, Daniela; Knight, Eleanor G; Marlow, Rebecca; Haider, Syed; Callen, Elsa; Hewitt, Graeme; Schimmel, Joost; Prevo, Remko; Alli, Christina; Ferdinand, Amanda; Bell, Cameron; Blencowe, Peter; Bot, Chris; Calder, Mathew; Charles, Mark; Curry, Jayne; Ekwuru, Tennyson; Ewings, Katherine; Krajewski, Wojciech; MacDonald, Ellen; McCarron, Hollie; Pang, Leon; Pedder, Chris; Rigoreau, Laurent; Swarbrick, Martin; Wheatley, Ed; Willis, Simon; Wong, Ai Ching; Nussenzweig, Andre; Tijsterman, Marcel; Tutt, Andrew; Boulton, Simon J; Higgins, Geoff S; Pettitt, Stephen J; Smith, Graeme CM; Lord, Christopher J

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Polθ inhibitors elicit BRCA-gene synthetic lethality and target PARP inhibitor resistance.

journal contribution

posted on 2021-06-30, 14:03 authored by Diana Zatreanu, Helen MR Robinson, Omar Alkhatib, Marie Boursier, Harry Finch, Lerin Geo, Diego Grande, Vera Grinkevich, Robert A Heald, Sophie Langdon, Jayesh Majithiya, Claire McWhirter, Niall MB Martin, Shaun Moore, Joana Neves, Eeson Rajendra, Marco Ranzani, Theresia Schaedler, Martin Stockley, Kimberley Wiggins, Rachel Brough, Sandhya Sridhar, Aditi Gulati, Nan Shao, Luned M Badder, Daniela Novo, Eleanor G Knight, Rebecca Marlow, Syed Haider, Elsa Callen, Graeme Hewitt, Joost Schimmel, Remko Prevo, Christina Alli, Amanda Ferdinand, Cameron Bell, Peter Blencowe, Chris Bot, Mathew Calder, Mark Charles, Jayne Curry, Tennyson Ekwuru, Katherine Ewings, Wojciech Krajewski, Ellen MacDonald, Hollie McCarron, Leon Pang, Chris Pedder, Laurent Rigoreau, Martin Swarbrick, Ed Wheatley, Simon Willis, Ai Ching Wong, Andre Nussenzweig, Marcel Tijsterman, Andrew Tutt, Simon J Boulton, Geoff S Higgins, Stephen J Pettitt, Graeme CM Smith, Christopher J Lord

To identify approaches to target DNA repair vulnerabilities in cancer, we discovered nanomolar potent, selective, low molecular weight (MW), allosteric inhibitors of the polymerase function of DNA polymerase Polθ, including ART558. ART558 inhibits the major Polθ-mediated DNA repair process, Theta-Mediated End Joining, without targeting Non-Homologous End Joining. In addition, ART558 elicits DNA damage and synthetic lethality in BRCA1- or BRCA2-mutant tumour cells and enhances the effects of a PARP inhibitor. Genetic perturbation screening revealed that defects in the 53BP1/Shieldin complex, which cause PARP inhibitor resistance, result in in vitro and in vivo sensitivity to small molecule Polθ polymerase inhibitors. Mechanistically, ART558 increases biomarkers of single-stranded DNA and synthetic lethality in 53BP1-defective cells whilst the inhibition of DNA nucleases that promote end-resection reversed these effects, implicating these in the synthetic lethal mechanism-of-action. Taken together, these observations describe a drug class that elicits BRCA-gene synthetic lethality and PARP inhibitor synergy, as well as targeting a biomarker-defined mechanism of PARPi-resistance.