Olaparib for PAH: a Pilot Study

Summary

The main OBJECTIVE of this proposal is to extend our preclinical findings on the role of DNA damage and poly(ADP-ribose) polymerases (PARP) inhibition as a therapy for a devastating disease, pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH), to early-phase clinical trials. We, and others, have published strong evidence that DNA damage accounts for disease progression in PAH and showed that PARP1 inhibition can reverse PAH in several animal models1. Interestingly, PARP1 inhibition is also cardioprotective. Olaparib, an orally available PARP1 inhibitor, can reverse cancer growth in animals and humans with a good safety profile, and is now approved for the treatment of ovarian cancer in Canada, Europe and the USA. The time is thus right to translate our findings in human PAH. The industry-sponsored clinical research on PARP1 inhibitor is currently entirely cancer-oriented. Nonetheless, AstraZeneca Canada accepted to support an early phase clinical trial through in-kind contribution, but the support from foundations and federal agencies is critical to catalyze early-stage development of PARP1 inhibitors for other indications, especially for orphan diseases. A CIHR Project Scheme grant will thus be submitted on September 15 2017, proposing a Phase 1, followed by a Phase 2 trial that will be conducted in recognized PAH programs throughout Canada. At this stage, however, we propose a pilot study to assess the feasibility of the proposed trials in the PAH population. The overall HYPOTHESIS is that PARP1 inhibition with olaparib is a safe and effective therapy for PAH. The primary objective of the study is to confirm feasibility, to support the safety of using olaparib in PAH patients, and precise the sample size of the coming Phase 1B trial. The feasibility of the comprehensive patient phenotyping that will be proposed within the phase 1B trial will thus be assessed, in addition to adverse events and efficacy signals. \*\*\*OPTION pilot trial was merged with the new OPTION multicenter trial (NCT03782818)\*\*\*

Timeline

Start

2018-10-25

Primary completion

2019-12-01

Completion

2019-12-01

Publications

• Background Chen PI, Cao A, Miyagawa K, Tojais NF, Hennigs JK, Li CG, Sweeney NM, Inglis AS, Wang L, Li D, Ye M, Feldman BJ, Rabinovitch M. Amphetamines promote mitochondrial dysfunction and DNA damage in pulmonary hypertension. JCI Insight. 2017 Jan 26;2(2):e90427. doi: 10.1172/jci.insight.90427.
• Background de Jesus Perez VA, Yuan K, Lyuksyutova MA, Dewey F, Orcholski ME, Shuffle EM, Mathur M, Yancy L Jr, Rojas V, Li CG, Cao A, Alastalo TP, Khazeni N, Cimprich KA, Butte AJ, Ashley E, Zamanian RT. Whole-exome sequencing reveals TopBP1 as a novel gene in idiopathic pulmonary arterial hypertension. Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2014 May 15;189(10):1260-72. doi: 10.1164/rccm.201310-1749OC.
• Background Dedes KJ, Wetterskog D, Mendes-Pereira AM, Natrajan R, Lambros MB, Geyer FC, Vatcheva R, Savage K, Mackay A, Lord CJ, Ashworth A, Reis-Filho JS. PTEN deficiency in endometrioid endometrial adenocarcinomas predicts sensitivity to PARP inhibitors. Sci Transl Med. 2010 Oct 13;2(53):53ra75. doi: 10.1126/scitranslmed.3001538.
• Background Federici C, Drake KM, Rigelsky CM, McNelly LN, Meade SL, Comhair SA, Erzurum SC, Aldred MA. Increased Mutagen Sensitivity and DNA Damage in Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension. Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2015 Jul 15;192(2):219-28. doi: 10.1164/rccm.201411-2128OC.
• Background Happe CM, Szulcek R, Voelkel NF, Bogaard HJ. Reconciling paradigms of abnormal pulmonary blood flow and quasi-malignant cellular alterations in pulmonary arterial hypertension. Vascul Pharmacol. 2016 Aug;83:17-25. doi: 10.1016/j.vph.2016.01.004. Epub 2016 Jan 22.
• Background Hoeper MM, Bogaard HJ, Condliffe R, Frantz R, Khanna D, Kurzyna M, Langleben D, Manes A, Satoh T, Torres F, Wilkins MR, Badesch DB. Definitions and diagnosis of pulmonary hypertension. J Am Coll Cardiol. 2013 Dec 24;62(25 Suppl):D42-50. doi: 10.1016/j.jacc.2013.10.032.
• Background Ledermann J, Harter P, Gourley C, Friedlander M, Vergote I, Rustin G, Scott C, Meier W, Shapira-Frommer R, Safra T, Matei D, Macpherson E, Watkins C, Carmichael J, Matulonis U. Olaparib maintenance therapy in platinum-sensitive relapsed ovarian cancer. N Engl J Med. 2012 Apr 12;366(15):1382-92. doi: 10.1056/NEJMoa1105535. Epub 2012 Mar 27.
• Background Li M, Vattulainen S, Aho J, Orcholski M, Rojas V, Yuan K, Helenius M, Taimen P, Myllykangas S, De Jesus Perez V, Koskenvuo JW, Alastalo TP. Loss of bone morphogenetic protein receptor 2 is associated with abnormal DNA repair in pulmonary arterial hypertension. Am J Respir Cell Mol Biol. 2014 Jun;50(6):1118-28. doi: 10.1165/rcmb.2013-0349OC.
• Background Meloche J, Le Guen M, Potus F, Vinck J, Ranchoux B, Johnson I, Antigny F, Tremblay E, Breuils-Bonnet S, Perros F, Provencher S, Bonnet S. miR-223 reverses experimental pulmonary arterial hypertension. Am J Physiol Cell Physiol. 2015 Sep 15;309(6):C363-72. doi: 10.1152/ajpcell.00149.2015. Epub 2015 Jun 17.
• Background Meloche J, Pflieger A, Vaillancourt M, Paulin R, Potus F, Zervopoulos S, Graydon C, Courboulin A, Breuils-Bonnet S, Tremblay E, Couture C, Michelakis ED, Provencher S, Bonnet S. Role for DNA damage signaling in pulmonary arterial hypertension. Circulation. 2014 Feb 18;129(7):786-97. doi: 10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.113.006167. Epub 2013 Nov 22.
• Background Moudry P, Watanabe K, Wolanin KM, Bartkova J, Wassing IE, Watanabe S, Strauss R, Troelsgaard Pedersen R, Oestergaard VH, Lisby M, Andujar-Sanchez M, Maya-Mendoza A, Esashi F, Lukas J, Bartek J. TOPBP1 regulates RAD51 phosphorylation and chromatin loading and determines PARP inhibitor sensitivity. J Cell Biol. 2016 Feb 1;212(3):281-8. doi: 10.1083/jcb.201507042. Epub 2016 Jan 25.
• Background Park ES, Kang DH, Kang JC, Jang YC, Lee MJ, Chung HJ, Yi KY, Kim DE, Kim B, Shin HS. Cardioprotective effect of KR-33889, a novel PARP inhibitor, against oxidative stress-induced apoptosis in H9c2 cells and isolated rat hearts. Arch Pharm Res. 2017 May;40(5):640-654. doi: 10.1007/s12272-017-0912-3. Epub 2017 Apr 4.
• Background Rabinovitch M, Guignabert C, Humbert M, Nicolls MR. Inflammation and immunity in the pathogenesis of pulmonary arterial hypertension. Circ Res. 2014 Jun 20;115(1):165-75. doi: 10.1161/CIRCRESAHA.113.301141.
• Background Ramsey BW, Nepom GT, Lonial S. Academic, Foundation, and Industry Collaboration in Finding New Therapies. N Engl J Med. 2017 May 4;376(18):1762-1769. doi: 10.1056/NEJMra1612575. No abstract available.
• Background Ranchoux B, Meloche J, Paulin R, Boucherat O, Provencher S, Bonnet S. DNA Damage and Pulmonary Hypertension. Int J Mol Sci. 2016 Jun 22;17(6):990. doi: 10.3390/ijms17060990.
• Background Simonneau G, Gatzoulis MA, Adatia I, Celermajer D, Denton C, Ghofrani A, Gomez Sanchez MA, Krishna Kumar R, Landzberg M, Machado RF, Olschewski H, Robbins IM, Souza R. Updated clinical classification of pulmonary hypertension. J Am Coll Cardiol. 2013 Dec 24;62(25 Suppl):D34-41. doi: 10.1016/j.jacc.2013.10.029.

Drugs

Indications