Erythromycin Treatment for Readthrough of APC Gene Stop Codon Mutation in Familial Adenomatous Polyposis-minors' Adjusted Version

Summary

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is a leading cause for cancer related mortality in the western world with a lifetime risk of 6%. Etiology is complex, while genetic background significantly affects the risk. Around one third of all genetic disorders as well as most cases of Familial Adenomatous Polyposis (FAP) and a large proportion of all sporadic CRC cases occur as a result of premature nonsense mutations (creating a stop codon) in an individual's adenomatous polyposis coli (APC) gene. Nonsense mutations are single-point alterations in the DNA that prematurely halt the protein translation process, producing a shortened, nonfunctional protein. In many of these cases, if the cell can be 'persuaded' to ignore the premature stop codon signal, the resulting protein may be able to ameliorate or stop the disease. Recently, members of the aminoglycoside family of antibiotics have been found to induce ribosomal read-through of nonsense mutations, leading to expression of a full length, functional protein. Investigators have recently shown that members of the aminoglycoside and macrolide antibiotic families can induce read-through of the nonsense mutations in the APC gene and lead to reduced oncogenic phenotypes in CRC cells and in different mice models. The aim of this project is to determine the ability of the macrolide antibiotic-erythromycin to induce read-through of the nonsense mutations in the APC gene and to induce expression of a full length, functional APC protein in patients suffering from FAP and to tests its effect on adenoma number and size and on desmoid tumors in these patients. The future goal is to maximize the effect of stop-codon suppressors on APC while minimizing side effects. In this study investigators will select FAP patients which carry APC nonsense mutations, treat them with erythromycin PO for 4-6 months and examine colonic and duodenal adenomas as well as abdominal desmoid tumors, that will be documented before during and after treatment. In parallel, investigators will test polyp, adenoma and desmoid tissue samples as well as blood samples from these patients for changes in expression levels of the APC protein and related oncogenic markers. Suppression of nonsense mutations within the APC gene should be of benefit for patients suffering from FAP, attenuated FAP or multiple adenomas and for patients with advanced or diffuse CRC. Furthermore, given the rapid progress being made in the identification of different nonsense mutations in human genes that lead to mostly un-curable disease, the identification of clinically approved compounds that suppress nonsense mutations and that can be administered long-term without significant side effects would open new venues in the treatment of genetic human diseases that arise from pre-mature stop codons in important coding sequences. Immediate goal: establish the ability of erythromycin to read-through APC nonsense mutation in FAP patients. The read-through effect of erythromycin will be clinically tested by counting and measuring the number and size of both colonic and duodenal adenomas before and over treatment and by measuring the size of known desmoid tumors. Samples of the adenomas and desmoid tumors will be tested by western blot, immunofluorescence and immunohistochemistry for restoration of APC expression and changes in oncogenic markers. These experiments should be conducted within 6 month. Long term objective: 1. Determine the lowest dose of erythromycin that can inhibit growth of colonic neoplasia and CRC in patients expressing a truncated APC protein due to nonsense mutations. 2. Examine the ability of a panel of additional macrolide antibiotics to induce APC nonsense mutation suppression using in-vitro methods. Investigators will focus on macrolide antibiotics that are currently in clinical use and are administrated for long terms. These objectives should take around 6 month and will be conducted in parallel.

Timeline

Start

2015-06

Primary completion

2017-12

Completion

2017-12

Publications

• Background Smith KJ, Johnson KA, Bryan TM, Hill DE, Markowitz S, Willson JK, Paraskeva C, Petersen GM, Hamilton SR, Vogelstein B, et al. The APC gene product in normal and tumor cells. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1993 Apr 1;90(7):2846-50. doi: 10.1073/pnas.90.7.2846.
• Background Miyoshi Y, Nagase H, Ando H, Horii A, Ichii S, Nakatsuru S, Aoki T, Miki Y, Mori T, Nakamura Y. Somatic mutations of the APC gene in colorectal tumors: mutation cluster region in the APC gene. Hum Mol Genet. 1992 Jul;1(4):229-33. doi: 10.1093/hmg/1.4.229.
• Background Jasperson KW, Tuohy TM, Neklason DW, Burt RW. Hereditary and familial colon cancer. Gastroenterology. 2010 Jun;138(6):2044-58. doi: 10.1053/j.gastro.2010.01.054.
• Background Nieuwenhuis MH, Mathus-Vliegen EM, Baeten CG, Nagengast FM, van der Bijl J, van Dalsen AD, Kleibeuker JH, Dekker E, Langers AM, Vecht J, Peters FT, van Dam R, van Gemert WG, Stuifbergen WN, Schouten WR, Gelderblom H, Vasen HF. Evaluation of management of desmoid tumours associated with familial adenomatous polyposis in Dutch patients. Br J Cancer. 2011 Jan 4;104(1):37-42. doi: 10.1038/sj.bjc.6605997. Epub 2010 Nov 9.
• Background Zilberberg A, Lahav L, Rosin-Arbesfeld R. Restoration of APC gene function in colorectal cancer cells by aminoglycoside- and macrolide-induced read-through of premature termination codons. Gut. 2010 Apr;59(4):496-507. doi: 10.1136/gut.2008.169805. Epub 2009 Dec 1.
• Background Lai CH, Chun HH, Nahas SA, Mitui M, Gamo KM, Du L, Gatti RA. Correction of ATM gene function by aminoglycoside-induced read-through of premature termination codons. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2004 Nov 2;101(44):15676-81. doi: 10.1073/pnas.0405155101. Epub 2004 Oct 21.
• Background Wilschanski M, Yahav Y, Yaacov Y, Blau H, Bentur L, Rivlin J, Aviram M, Bdolah-Abram T, Bebok Z, Shushi L, Kerem B, Kerem E. Gentamicin-induced correction of CFTR function in patients with cystic fibrosis and CFTR stop mutations. N Engl J Med. 2003 Oct 9;349(15):1433-41. doi: 10.1056/NEJMoa022170.
• Background Kerem E, Hirawat S, Armoni S, Yaakov Y, Shoseyov D, Cohen M, Nissim-Rafinia M, Blau H, Rivlin J, Aviram M, Elfring GL, Northcutt VJ, Miller LL, Kerem B, Wilschanski M. Effectiveness of PTC124 treatment of cystic fibrosis caused by nonsense mutations: a prospective phase II trial. Lancet. 2008 Aug 30;372(9640):719-27. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(08)61168-X. Epub 2008 Aug 20.
• Background West NJ, Clark SK, Phillips RK, Hutchinson JM, Leicester RJ, Belluzzi A, Hull MA. Eicosapentaenoic acid reduces rectal polyp number and size in familial adenomatous polyposis. Gut. 2010 Jul;59(7):918-25. doi: 10.1136/gut.2009.200642. Epub 2010 Mar 26.
• Background Lips DJ, Barker N, Clevers H, Hennipman A. The role of APC and beta-catenin in the aetiology of aggressive fibromatosis (desmoid tumors). Eur J Surg Oncol. 2009 Jan;35(1):3-10. doi: 10.1016/j.ejso.2008.07.003. Epub 2008 Aug 21.
• Results Markowitz SD, Bertagnolli MM. Molecular origins of cancer: Molecular basis of colorectal cancer. N Engl J Med. 2009 Dec 17;361(25):2449-60. doi: 10.1056/NEJMra0804588. No abstract available.

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