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Introduction: Dearth of clinically validated drug targets is a major challenge in Triple Negative Breast Cancer (TNBC) that limits the treatment options to chemotherapy with intense cytotoxic consequences. We previously identified PAH2 domain of Sin3 protein as potential therapeutic target in TNBC and shown that protein-protein interactions of Sin3 via its PAH-2 domain can be disrupted by decoys (Mad1-SID peptide/small molecule inhibitors) designed based on the Sin3 interaction domain (SID) of transcription factor Mad1. Chromatin regulator Pf1 shown to be overexpressed in breast cancer and interacting with PAH2 domain of Sin3 can also be dissociated from Sin3 complex by Mad1-SID. In this study we identify Pf1 to be a significant contributor to the oncogenic phenotype associated with TNBC. Methods: Pf1 knockdown lines were generated by stably transfecting MDA-MB-231 cells with Pf1-shRNA or scr-shRNA. Cells were cultured in 2D and assayed for cancer stem cell (CSC) markers and ALDH activity by flow cytometry. For colony morphogenesis cells were cultured in 3D Matrigel. qRT-PCR were performed to assay expression of Nanog, Sox2 and Oct4. Fluorescence anisotropy and co-immunoprecipitation assays were used to test Sin3-Mad1 and Sin3-Pf1 interaction in the presence or absence of Mad1-SID and/or Pf1-SID. Results: MDA-MB-231 cells transfected with Pf1-shRNA had over two fold reduced ability to form colonies in 3D Matrigel cultures, with ∼95% of colonies non-invasive in contrast to the invasive star-like colonies formed by cells transfected with Scr-shRNA. Additionally reduction in Pf1 level was accompanied by a ∼1.5-fold reduction (p Conclusion: PAH2 domain of Sin3 and its interaction with Pf1 is potential drug target and Pf-1SID-mediated disruption of Sin3-Pf1 complex as translation relevance for first site-specific epigenetic therapy for TNBC. Citation Format: Nidhi Bansal, Joanna Wexler, Yeon-jin Kwon, Elena C. Gil, Boris Leibovitch, Rajal Sharma, Arthur Zelent, Ming-Ming Zhou, Eduardo Farias, Samuel Waxman. Targeting Sin3-Pf1 complex: Novel site-specific epigenetic therapy for triple negative breast cancer. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 106th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2015 Apr 18-22; Philadelphia, PA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2015;75(15 Suppl):Abstract nr 1989. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2015-1989

INTRODUCTION: Sin3 is a complex scaffolding protein that participates in epigenetic regulation involved in a variety of biological processes, including chromatin remodeling, development, differentiation, cell cycle and survival. Paired Amphipathic domain 2 (PAH2) domain of Sin3 was shown to interact with Sin3 interacting domain (SID)-containing transcription factors, such as Mxd1, KLF10/11, and REST. Previously, we reported that SID transcripts and decoy peptides disrupt the interactions between Sin3-PAH2 domain and SID-containing transcription factors and induce epigenetic reprogramming in TNBC. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: Here we show that fourteen SMIs mimicking SID decoys were identified by in silico computation from a chemical library composed of 115,000 compounds. We confirmed that selamectin and ivermectin are SID decoys using duo-link assays. Our NMR 15N-HSQC spectroscopy binding results further demonstrated ivermectin, which shares the same binding site as selamectin, directly interacted with PAH2. Moreover, selamectin inhibited Sin3 repression activity as measured by mammalian two-hybrid and in vitro GST pull-down assays. Notably, ivermectin was approved by Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to treat small animals and human. However, the anti-tumorigenic roles for these SMIs had not been investigated in TNBC in vitro and in vivo. Remarkably, these SMIs did not affect growth in 2-dimensional (2D) clonogenecity assay, but significantly suppressed growth in 3D matrigel and tumorsphere cultures. Moreover, selamectin significantly suppressed Myc mammary tumor growth in vivo more than 50 percent without any cytotoxicity. Selamectin and ivermectin induced re-expression of CDH1 and ESR1, restoring tamoxifen sensitivity. Treatment with these compounds inhibited in vitro invasion as measured by Boyden chamber in MCF7/ADR and MDA-MB-231 cells. Selamectin and ivermectin were shown to alleviate multidrug resistance and enhance doxorubicin and paclitaxel cytotoxicity in MCF7/ADR cells, which is unrelated to disruption of Sin3-PAH2. Based on further studies of the Sin3A complexes using selamectin and ivermectin, we seek to identify novel SMIs with better efficiency for targeting Sin3 complex and treating TNBCs in the future. Citation Format: Yeon-Jin Kwon, Boris A. Leibovitch, Lei Zeng, Mihaly Mezei, Rossitza Christova, Shuai Yang, Rajal Sharma, Edgardo Aritzia, nidhi bansal, Ming-Ming Zhou, Authur Zelent, Eduardo Farias, Samuel Waxman. Selamectin and ivermectin are small molecule inhibitors that interfere with Sin3A-PAH2 function and exert anti-tumor activity in triple-negative breast cancer. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 105th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2014 Apr 5-9; San Diego, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2014;74(19 Suppl):Abstract nr 807. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2014-807