Repurposing the Antihelmintic Mebendazole As a Hedgehog Inhibitor Andrew R
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Published OnlineFirst November 5, 2014; DOI: 10.1158/1535-7163.MCT-14-0755-T Small Molecule Therapeutics Molecular Cancer Therapeutics Repurposing the Antihelmintic Mebendazole as a Hedgehog Inhibitor Andrew R. Larsen1,Ren-YuanBai2, Jon H. Chung1, Alexandra Borodovsky2, Charles M. Rudin3, Gregory J. Riggins2, and Fred Bunz1 Abstract The hedgehog (Hh) signaling pathway is activated in many activation. The inhibition of Hh signaling by mebendazole was types of cancer and therefore presents an attractive target for new unaffected by mutants in the gene that encodes human Smooth- anticancer agents. Here, we show that mebendazole, a benzami- ened (SMO), which are selectively propagated in cell clones that dazole with a long history of safe use against nematode infesta- survive treatment with the Hh inhibitor vismodegib. Combina- tions and hydatid disease, potently inhibited Hh signaling and tion of vismodegib and mebendazole resulted in additive Hh slowed the growth of Hh-driven human medulloblastoma cells at signaling inhibition. Because mebendazole can be safely admin- clinically attainable concentrations. As an antiparasitic, meben- istered to adults and children at high doses over extended time dazole avidly binds nematode tubulin and causes inhibition of periods, we propose that mebendazole could be rapidly repur- intestinal microtubule synthesis. In human cells, mebendazole posed and clinically tested as a prospective therapeutic agent for suppressed the formation of the primary cilium, a microtubule- many tumors that are dependent on Hh signaling. Mol Cancer Ther; based organelle that functions as a signaling hub for Hh pathway 14(1); 3–13. Ó2014 AACR. Introduction and evidence of elevated GLI activity in many tumors that lack pathway-activating mutations (5, 6). Activation of the hedgehog (Hh) signaling pathway is SMO antagonism has proven to be an effective strategy for required for developmental morphogenesis and is frequently treating tumors with active Hh signaling (7). The first SMO observed in human cancers (1, 2). Canonical Hh signals are antagonist to be approved for clinical use is vismodegib (Erivedge; initiated by the interaction of Hh ligands with the receptor also known as GDC-0449). Vismodegib has been used success- PTCH1. In the unbound state, PTCH1 prevents SMO activa- fully for the treatment of locally advanced and metastatic basal tion in the primary cilium, an organelle required for the cell carcinomas (8), and is currently being tested for use in adults transduction of various chemical and mechanical signals and children with many diverse types of tumors, including (3). In the presence of ligand, PTCH1 disappears from the medulloblastomas and gliomas, which are often refractory to cilium and SMO activates downstream effectors, including the conventional therapies (9). When used as a monotherapy, vis- GLI family of transcription factors (4). Several types of cancer, modegib is associated with adverse effects that include fatigue, including basal cell carcinoma and medulloblastoma, are vomiting, weight loss, decreased appetite, dysgeusia, dehydration, frequently caused by germline or somatic mutations in PTCH1 and muscle spasm (10). Such low-grade toxicities have contrib- or by less common alterations within the pathway that lead to uted to treatment discontinuation and appear to be potentially constitutive signaling by SMO (1, 2). Alternative modes of Hh problematic when vismodegib is combined with conventional pathwayactivationinsomeofthemostcommontypesof agents (11). When used to treat a patient with metastatic medul- cancer are suggested by the widespread presence of Hh ligands loblastoma, vismodegib caused a response that was impressive but transient (12). Recurrent tumors in this patient were found to harbor a novel SMO mutation that caused drug resistance (13). 1Department of Radiation Oncology and Molecular Radiation Selection for SMO-mutant tumor cell populations can similarly Sciences, The Kimmel Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins, Baltimore, be caused by vismodegib therapy in mouse models of medullo- 2 Maryland. Department of Neurosurgery,The Kimmel Cancer Center at blastoma (13). Alternative strategies to inhibit Hh signaling have Johns Hopkins, Baltimore, Maryland. 3Memorial Hospital Research Laboratories, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, New been explored for the prevention or treatment of such recurrent York. tumors (14). Note: Supplementary data for this article are available at Molecular Cancer Benzimidazoles approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Admin- Therapeutics Online (http://mct.aacrjournals.org/). istration for the treatment of nematode infections have been Corresponding Authors: Fred Bunz, The Kimmel Cancer Center at Johns reported to have antiproliferative effects in diverse types of cancer Hopkins, 1550 Orleans Street, Room 453, Baltimore, MD 21287. Phone: 410- cells, including those derived from melanoma, non–small cell 502-7941; Fax: 410-502-2821; E-mail: [email protected]; and Gregory J. Riggins, lung cancer, ovarian cancer, adrenocortical carcinoma, and colo- The Kimmel Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins, 1550 Orleans Street, Room 257, rectal cancers (15–20). Case reports have documented responses Baltimore, MD 21287. Phone: 410-614-0477; Fax: 410-614-0478; E-mail: of a metastatic adrenocortical carcinoma (21) and a metastatic [email protected] colorectal carcinoma (22) to mebendazole (methyl N-[6-(ben- doi: 10.1158/1535-7163.MCT-14-0755-T zoly)-1H-benzamidazol-2-yl] carbamate). Our group recently Ó2014 American Association for Cancer Research. found that experimental brain tumors were highly sensitive to www.aacrjournals.org 3 Downloaded from mct.aacrjournals.org on September 30, 2021. © 2015 American Association for Cancer Research. Published OnlineFirst November 5, 2014; DOI: 10.1158/1535-7163.MCT-14-0755-T Larsen et al. benzimidazole therapy that was administered to a mouse colony mented with 10% FBS and penicillin/streptomycin. NIH3T3 cells for control of a pinworm infestation. Follow-up studies of this were grown in DMEM supplemented with 10% calf serum. Shh- serendipitous observation showed that mebendazole inhibited Light2 cells (34) were grown in DMEM with 10% calf serum and the growth of glioma-derived neurospheres in vitro, and among 0.4 mg/mL geneticin and 0.15 mg/mL zeocin, both purchased from the benzimidazoles most effectively entered the central nervous Life Technologies. All cell lines were obtained from the ATCC system and slowed the growth of orthotopically implanted glio- within 6 months of the beginning of the project and validated by À À mas, which are characteristically resistant to standard modes of the supplier, except for Smo / MEFs that were a gift from James therapy (23). Kim (University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center) and were The anticancer effect of mebendazole defies a simple explana- not genetically authenticated upon their receipt in July 2013. tion. Mebendazole and related compounds have been reported to cause growth arrest and induce apoptosis in cultured cancer cells Orthotopic tumors at doses that have little effect on noncancer immortalized cells Syngeneic GL261 glioma tumors were grown intracranially in (15–17, 19, 20). It is unclear why such nonspecific antiprolifera- 4- to 6-week-old female nu/nu athymic mice (NCI-Fredrick) and tive effects would preferentially target tumor cells over the cells in treated with mebendazole as previously described (23). Each normal renewing tissues. Like all benzimidazoles used for treat- brain was snap-frozen after extraction and stored in liquid nitro- ment of helminth infestations, mebendazole binds tubulin at a gen until further analysis. Orthotopic medulloblastoma xeno- binding site also recognized by colchicine, and inhibits microtu- grafts were generated in female athymic mice, 5 to 6 weeks of age bule polymerization. The rate of dissociation of mebendazole (NCI). DAOY cells were infected with a lentivirus carrying a firefly from nematode tubulin is an order of magnitude lower than from luciferase cDNA (23) before implantation. For the implantation human tubulin (24). Inhibition of microtubule formation in the procedure, mice were anesthetized and 200,000 DAOY cells were gut of the nematode prevents the absorption of glucose and injected through a burr hole drilled 1 mm lateral to the right of the thereby leads to elimination of the parasite (25), whereas human sagittal suture and 1 mm posterior to the lambda at a depth of 2.5 cells and tissues are apparently minimally affected by the less avid mm below the dura, with the guidance of a stereotactic frame, at a mebendazole–tubulin interaction. Mebendazole is therefore well rate of 1 mL/min. Treatment was initiated at 5 days after implan- tolerated, even at high doses administered over lengthy time tation, with a daily dose of mebendazole of 25 or 50 mg/kg periods for treatment of cystic echinococcosis (26). delivered with 50% (v/v) sesame oil and PBS, by gavage. Intra- A growing body of evidence suggests that activated Hh signaling cranial luciferase activity was determined with a bioluminescence contributes to the diverse cancers that are preclinically responsive imager (Xenogen) following intraperitoneal injection of 2 mg D- to mebendazole and structurally related benzimidazoles. Recent- luciferin potassium salt (Gold Biotechnology). Animals were ly, Hh signaling has been shown to be active in many gliomas (27, scanned 15 m after injection for 1 m at a distance of 20 cm. Mice 28), while Hh ligands or markers of downstream pathway activity