A DNA Hypomethylation Signature Predicts Novel Anti-Tumor Activity of LSD1 Inhibitors in SCLC (ChIP-Seq)

Epigenetic dysregulation has emerged as an important mechanism in cancer. Alterations in epigenetic machinery have become a major focus for new targeted therapies. The current report describes the discovery and biological activity of a cyclopropylamine containing inhibitor of Lysine Demethylase 1 (LSD1), GSK2879552. This small molecule is a potent, selective, orally bioavailable, mechanism-based irreversible inhibitor of LSD1. A proliferation screen of cell lines representing a number of tumor types indicated that small cell lung carcinoma (SCLC) is sensitive to LSD1 inhibition. The subset of SCLC lines and primary samples that undergo growth inhibition in response to GSK2879552 exhibit DNA hypomethylation of a signature set of probes suggesting this may be used as a predictive biomarker of activity. The targeted mechanism coupled with a novel predictive biomarker make LSD1 inhibition an exciting potential therapy for SCLC, a highly prevalent, rarely cured, tumor type representing approximately 15% of all lung cancers. Overall design: To investigate the mechanism of LSD1 efficacy in SCLC cell lines we used chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) sequencing studies to examine the genomic distribution of LSD1 as well as H3K4me2 and H3K4me1 in NCI-H526 SCLC cells in the absence and presence of LSD1 inhibition.