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Repurposing Bruton's tyrosine kinase (BTK) inhibitors to reverse immunosuppression in high-grade serous ovarian cancer (HGSC)

Award Number: R03CA262839
ORGANIZATION: NATIONAL CANCER INSTITUTE
OPDIV: NIH
AWARD CLASS: DISCRETIONARY
AWARD ACTIVITY TYPE: SCIENTIFIC/HEALTH RESEARCH (INCLUDES SURVEYS)

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Project Summary Background: Patients with high grade ovarian serous carcinoma (HGSC) have limited therapeutic options beyond surgery and chemotherapy. Metastatic HGSC has remained largely incurable and almost always unresponsive to immunotherapies due to its extremely “cold” tumor microenvironment (TME). Success in curing this devastating cancer will likely rely upon new therapies targeting the crucial drivers of immunosuppression in the TME, yet to be determined. Innovation: The all too common failure of drugs that are efficacious in pre-clinical models to translate to efficacy in human malignancies requires the development of assays that mimic the tumor in its native setting of the TME. This proposal helps bridge that gap by taking advantage of an all-human, high-throughput drug screen that leverages for the first time the immunosuppressive features of HGSC malignant ascites. To repurpose small- molecule drugs for novel therapy of HGSC, we designed a custom compound library containing 4, 292 small molecules either FDA-approved or druggable with a known mechanism of action (MOA), screening of which has identified 9 top targets including BTK inhibition. To date, BTK inhibitors have been approved as a treatment for hematologic malignancies but have not been studied in many solid tumors including ovarian cancer (OvCa). The proposal utilizes both novel syngeneic mouse models carrying the most frequent mutations in human OvCa and a patient-derived organoid model as a faithful representation of the TME to determine the efficacy and MOA of BTK inhibitors for HGSC therapy. Hypothesis: BTK inhibitors can improve HGSC outcomes by simultaneous activation of anti-tumor immunity and direct inhibition of tumor growth. Specific Aims: Aim 1: What is the role of BTK in HGSC tumor cells? Aim 2: How does BTK inhibition activate HGSC intratumoral immune cells? Aim 3: Do BTK inhibitors reduce tumor growth in vivo? Impact: Success in this patient-focused, hypothesis-driven proposal will not only advance the current understanding of key immunosuppressive mechanisms in HGSC, but also lead to discovery of novel therapeutic small molecule targets and unique biomarkers. Additionally, our project may suggest new combinational therapies of these novel targets with already marketed or in clinical trial drugs in the setting of HGSC. If successful, our study will provide a novel treatment paradigm for HGSC immunotherapy.


Issue Date FY	Funding FY	Legal Entity Name	Legal Entity Address	Legal Entity City	Legal Entity State	Legal Entity Zip Code	Legal Entity COUNTY	Legal Entity COUNTRY	Assistance Listing	Award Code	Budget Year	Action Date	Action Type	Action Amount

Issue Date FY: 2023 ( Subtotal = $89,000 )
2023	2023	DANA-FARBER CANCER INSTITUTE, INC.	450 BROOKLINE AVE	BOSTON	MA	02115	SUFFOLK	USA	Cancer Treatment Research	000	2	6/6/2023	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$89,000
														Subtotal = $89,000

Issue Date FY: 2022 ( Subtotal = $89,000 )
2022	2022	DANA-FARBER CANCER INSTITUTE, INC.	450 BROOKLINE AVE	BOSTON	MA	02115	SUFFOLK	USA	Cancer Treatment Research	000	1	7/7/2022	NEW	$89,000
														Subtotal = $89,000

Grand Total All Awards = $178,000

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Repurposing Bruton's tyrosine kinase (BTK) inhibitors to reverse immunosuppression in high-grade serous ovarian cancer (HGSC)

Award Number: R03CA262839

ORGANIZATION: NATIONAL CANCER INSTITUTE

OPDIV: NIH

AWARD CLASS: DISCRETIONARY

AWARD ACTIVITY TYPE: SCIENTIFIC/HEALTH RESEARCH (INCLUDES SURVEYS)

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