citarinostat (ACY-241)

P1, N=85, Terminated, Celgene | Phase classification: P1a/1b --> P1 | Trial completion date: Jan 2024 --> Jun 2024 | Active, not recruiting --> Terminated | Trial primary completion date: Jan 2024 --> Jun 2024; Lack of efficacy

P1, N=17, Terminated, Celgene | Active, not recruiting --> Terminated; Lack of efficacy

P1, N=19, Active, not recruiting, Massachusetts General Hospital | Phase classification: P1b --> P1 | Trial completion date: Jun 2023 --> Sep 2024 | Trial primary completion date: Jun 2023 --> Sep 2024

P1, N=16, Active, not recruiting, Celgene | Phase classification: P1b --> P1 | Trial completion date: Jun 2023 --> Jan 2024 | Trial primary completion date: Jun 2023 --> Jan 2024

This study confirms that HDAC6 knockdown and ACY-241 treatment effectively decrease HIF-1α expression under normoxia, thereby suppressing the epithelial-mesenchymal transition. These findings highlight the potential of selective HDAC6 inhibition as an innovative therapeutic strategy for lung cancer.

There was one grade 3 trAE: specifically, a thromboembolic event in one patient who was receiving lenalidomide and despite aspirin prophylaxis, but who fully recovered. PB and marrow transcriptome profiling along with the immunogenicity studies are in progress and will be presented. We will evaluate whether PB mononuclear cells have the potential to replace BM as a surrogate for genetic and immunological surveillance in SMM, as we anticipate that further understanding of the immune alterations among patients with SMM and the response to immunomodulatory therapy may provide insight on early intervention and prevention of progression to symptomatic disease.

P1a/1b, N=85, Active, not recruiting, Celgene | Trial completion date: Jul 2023 --> Jan 2024 | Trial primary completion date: Jun 2023 --> Jan 2024

To the best of our knowledge, this is the first research reporting the irreversible inhibition of HDAC6. It was also demonstrated that compared with ACY-241 (a reversible HDAC6 inhibitor in clinical trials), the irreversible HDAC6 selective inhibitor 4 exhibited not only superior anti-multiple myeloma activity but also improved therapeutic index.

Overall, co-inhibition of HDAC6 and HDAC8 through selective inhibitors synergistically suppresses cancer cell proliferation and metastasis in p53 wild-type ovarian cancer cells. These results suggest a novel approach to treating ovarian cancer patients and the therapeutic potential in developing HDAC6/8 dual inhibitors.

Finally, coupling these ACY241-mediated effects with the chemotherapy drug Oxaliplatin led to significantly enhanced tumor-associated T cell effector functionality in lung cancer-bearing mice and in patient-derived tumors. Collectively, our studies highlight the molecular underpinnings of the expansive immunomodulatory activity of ACY241 and supports its suitability as a partner agent in combination with rationally selected chemotherapy agents for therapeutic intervention in NSCLC.

Citarinostat 360 mg once daily is considered the recommended phase II dose for use in combination with paclitaxel 80 mg/m every 3 of 4 weeks. This trial is registered on ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT02551185).

Therefore, HDAC6 may be involved in the suppression of autophagy and acquisition of resistance to erlotinib in ER pancreatic cancer cells. ACY-241 to overcome erlotinib resistance could be an effective therapeutic strategy against pancreatic cancer.

In conclusion, our results revealed a novel mechanism by which ABCB1 and ABCG2 actively transport citarinostat away from targeting HDAC6 in cancer cells. Our results suggest that the co-administration of citarinostat with a non-toxic modulator of ABCB1 and ABCG2 may optimize its therapeutic application in the clinic.

Gene set enrichment analysis identifies significant overlap of ERα regulated genes with genes regulated by prolactin, particularly prolactin regulated genes with promoters or enhancers co-occupied by both STAT5A and HDAC6. Lastly, the therapeutic efficacy of ACY-241 is demonstrated in in vitro and in vivo breast cancer models, where we identify synergistic ACY-241 drug combinations and observe differential sensitivity of ER + models relative to ER - models.

These have been approved or are under clinical trials for use with other anticancer agents, such as pomalidomide, anti-programmed death-ligand 1 antibody and paclitaxel, for various types of cancer, including solid tumors. In the present study, a second generation HDAC6-selective inhibitor, ACY-241 (citarinostat), and a novel inhibitor, A452, exhibited synergistic anticancer effects with paclitaxel in AT-rich interaction domain 1A-mutated ovarian cancer in vitro...Treatment with all drug combinations increased the portion of apoptotic cells in fluorescence-activated cell sorting analysis. These results demonstrated synergy between paclitaxel and HDAC6-selective inhibitors, providing further impetus for clinical trials of combination therapy using HDAC6-selective inhibitors, not only in ovarian cancer but also in other tumors.

We therefore investigated the potential of the histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitor ricolinostat to up-regulate CD38 on MM cells, thereby enhancing the performance of CD38-specific therapies. We also evaluated next-generation HDAC6 inhibitors (ACY-241, WT-161) and observed similar increase of CD38 levels suggesting that the upregulation of CD38 expression on MM cells by HDAC6 inhibitors is a class effect. This proof-of-concept illustrates the potential benefit of combining HDAC6 inhibitors and CD38-directed immunotherapy for MM treatment.

Combination of ENO1i and anti-PD-L1 Ab or HDAC6i ACY-241 enhances autologous MM-specific CD8 CTL activity. Our preclinical data therefore provide the basis for novel immune-based therapeutic approaches targeting ENO1, alone or in combination with anti-PD-L1 Ab or ACY241, to restore anti-MM immunity, enhance MM cytotoxicity, and improve patient outcome.

Overall, the combination of ACY-241 and JQ1 significantly suppresses proliferation and metastasis in HPV-positive and HPV-negative HNSCC. Collectively, these findings suggest that the co-inhibition of BET and HDAC6 can be a new therapeutic strategy in HNSCC.

HDAC6-selective inhibitors augmented melanoma patient T-cell immune properties, providing a rationale for translational investigation assessing their potential clinical efficacy.