Development and characterization of triazole-based WDR5 inhibitors for the treatment of glioblastoma
Jesse A. Coker, Steven R. Martinez, Sang Hoon Han, Anthony R. Sloan, Amit Kumar Gupta, George Bukenya, Paul Polzer, James H. Ramos, Emma G. Rico, Annabella Rico, A. Abigail Lindsey, Tanvi Navadgi, Natalie Reitz, Todd Romigh, Jonathan Macdonald, Dhiraj Sonawane, Christopher M. Goins, Christopher G. Hubert, Nancy S. Wang, Feixiong Cheng, Joseph Alvarado, Samuel A. Sprowls, Justin D. Lathia, Shaun R. Stauffer
Jesse A. Coker, Steven R. Martinez, Sang Hoon Han, Anthony R. Sloan, Amit Kumar Gupta, George Bukenya, Paul Polzer, James H. Ramos, Emma G. Rico, Annabella Rico, A. Abigail Lindsey, Tanvi Navadgi, Natalie Reitz, Todd Romigh, Jonathan Macdonald, Dhiraj Sonawane, Christopher M. Goins, Christopher G. Hubert, Nancy S. Wang, Feixiong Cheng, Joseph Alvarado, Samuel A. Sprowls, Justin D. Lathia, Shaun R. Stauffer
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Research Article Cell biology Neuroscience Oncology

Development and characterization of triazole-based WDR5 inhibitors for the treatment of glioblastoma

Abstract

Glioblastoma (GBM) cancer stem cells (CSCs) contribute to tumor recurrence, treatment resistance, and dismal clinical outcomes. Genetic and pharmacological evidence suggests that the nuclear scaffolding protein WD-repeat containing protein 5 (WDR5) is a therapeutic vulnerability of the CSC population. However, previously reported WDR5 inhibitors display low permeability and are unable to penetrate the blood-brain barrier (BBB), limiting their utility in GBM. Herein, we report the structure-guided development of a series of triazole-based WDR5 WIN-site inhibitors designed to increase passive brain penetration. We identified triazole-based WDR5 inhibitors that are potent, passively permeable, and in some cases more brain penetrant than other scaffolds. We phenotypically assessed our WDR5 inhibitors in a panel of patient-derived CSC models and uncovered unique WDR5-regulated metabolic genes in GBM. We also evaluated their antiproliferative activity against CSCs both in vitro and in vivo. Finally, to identify potential combination opportunities, we screened a 2,100-compound chemical probe library and identified that the ATAD2 inhibitor BAY-850 synergizes with WDR5 inhibitors to enhance CSC killing. Our work diversifies the chemical matter targeting WDR5, clarifies the in vitro consequences of WIN-site inhibition in CSCs, and encourages the future development of next-generation WDR5 inhibitors with the potential to achieve in vivo efficacy in the brain.

Authors

Jesse A. Coker, Steven R. Martinez, Sang Hoon Han, Anthony R. Sloan, Amit Kumar Gupta, George Bukenya, Paul Polzer, James H. Ramos, Emma G. Rico, Annabella Rico, A. Abigail Lindsey, Tanvi Navadgi, Natalie Reitz, Todd Romigh, Jonathan Macdonald, Dhiraj Sonawane, Christopher M. Goins, Christopher G. Hubert, Nancy S. Wang, Feixiong Cheng, Joseph Alvarado, Samuel A. Sprowls, Justin D. Lathia, Shaun R. Stauffer

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Figure 3

Transcriptional profiling of CSCs treated for 72 hours with 200 nM of different WIN-site inhibitors.

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Transcriptional profiling of CSCs treated for 72 hours with 200 nM of di...
(A) Overlap of differentially downregulated genes (log2FC < –0.5, P < 0.01) by C16 and C3TD078 treatment in L0 and DI318 CSCs as measured by bulk RNA-seq. (B and C) GSEA against the set of genes downregulated by C16 in MV4:11 leukemia cells, as reported by Howard et al. (33), for C16 in L0 CSCs and in DI318 CSCs. (D) Dot plot highlighting a representative set of n = 20 protein-coding genes observed to be downregulated (left) or unaffected (right) by both C16 and C3TD078 in both L0 and DI318 CSCs. (E) qPCR validation for the WIN-site dependent genes RPS24, PYGL, and CKMT1 as well as the WIN-site independent gene RPL14. Expression (log2FC) relative to DMSO is reported as mean ± SEM for n = 2 (L1) or n = 3 (L0, L2, DI318, 3832) biological replicates.