Therapeutic Targeting of SDHB-Mutated Pheochromocytoma/Paraganglioma with Pharmacologic Ascorbic Acid

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Liu, Yang
Pang, Ying
Zhu, Boqun
Uher, Ondrej
Caisova, Veronika
Huynh, Thanh-Truc
Taieb, David
Vanova, Katerina Hadrava
Ghayee, Hans Kumar
Neuzil, Jiri
Levine, Mark
Yang, Chunzhang
Pacak, Karel
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2020
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Abstract

PURPOSE: Pheochromocytomas and paragangliomas (PCPG) are usually benign neuroendocrine tumors. However, PCPGs with mutations in the succinate dehydrogenase B subunit (SDHB) have a poor prognosis and frequently develop metastatic lesions. SDHB-mutated PCPGs exhibit dysregulation in oxygen metabolic pathways, including pseudohypoxia and formation of reactive oxygen species, suggesting that targeting the redox balance pathway could be a potential therapeutic approach. EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN: We studied the genetic alterations of cluster I PCPGs compared with cluster II PCPGs, which usually present as benign tumors. By targeting the signature molecular pathway, we investigated the therapeutic effect of ascorbic acid on PCPGs using in vitro and in vivo models. RESULTS: By investigating PCPG cells with low SDHB levels, we show that pseudohypoxia resulted in elevated expression of iron transport proteins, including transferrin (TF), transferrin receptor 2 (TFR2), and the divalent metal transporter 1 (SLC11A2; DMT1), leading to iron accumulation. This iron overload contributed to elevated oxidative stress. Ascorbic acid at pharmacologic concentrations disrupted redox homeostasis, inducing DNA oxidative damage and cell apoptosis in PCPG cells with low SDHB levels. Moreover, through a preclinical animal model with PCPG allografts, we demonstrated that pharmacologic ascorbic acid suppressed SDHB-low metastatic lesions and prolonged overall survival. CONCLUSIONS: The data here demonstrate that targeting redox homeostasis as a cancer vulnerability with pharmacologic ascorbic acid is a promising therapeutic strategy for SDHB-mutated PCPGs.

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Clinical Cancer Research

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26

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14

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Oncology and carcinogenesis

Clinical sciences

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Liu, Y; Pang, Y; Zhu, B; Uher, O; Caisova, V; Huynh, T-T; Taieb, D; Hadrava Vanova, K; Ghayee, HK; Neuzil, J; Levine, M; Yang, C; Pacak, K, Therapeutic Targeting of SDHB-Mutated Pheochromocytoma/Paraganglioma with Pharmacologic Ascorbic Acid, Clinical Cancer Research, 2020, 26 (14), pp. 3868-3880

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