Abstract PR02: The spliceosome is a therapeutic vulnerability in MYC-driven breast cancer

c-MYC (MYC) hyperactivation is one of the most common drivers of human breast cancer and correlates with poor prognosis. Despite intensive study, the MYC oncogene remains recalcitrant to therapeutic inhibition. Like other classic oncogenes, hyperactivation of MYC leads to collateral stresses onto breast cancer cells, suggesting that tumors harbor unique vulnerabilities arising from oncogenic activation of MYC. Herein, we discover the spliceosome as a new target of oncogenic stress in MYC-driven cancers. We demonstrate that core components of the spliceosome and its catalytic activity are required to tolerate oncogenic MYC. Notably, MYC hyperactivation induces global changes in mRNA metabolism and increases the burden on the core spliceosome to process pre-mRNA. In primary human breast cancers, MYC hyperactivation is associated with altered splicing efficiency. In contrast to normal mammary epithelium, partial inhibition of the spliceosome in MYC-hyperactivated breast cancers leads to global intron retention, widespread defects in pre-mRNA maturation, and deregulation of essential cell processes. Importantly, genetic or pharmacologic inhibition of the spliceosome in vivo impairs survival, tumorigenicity, and metastatic proclivity of MYC-dependent breast cancers. Collectively, these data suggest that oncogenic MYC confers a collateral stress on splicing and that components of the spliceosome are therapeutic entry points for aggressive MYC-driven breast cancers. Citation Format: Tiffany Hsu, Lukas Simon, Nicholas Neill, richard marcotte, Azin Sayad, Kristen Karlin, Chandraiah Lagisetti, Thomas Cooper, Thomas Webb, Benjamin Neel, Chad Shaw, Thomas (“Trey”) Westbrook. The spliceosome is a therapeutic vulnerability in MYC-driven breast cancer. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR Special Conference on Advances in Breast Cancer Research; Oct 17-20, 2015; Bellevue, WA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Mol Cancer Res 2016;14(2_Suppl):Abstract nr PR02.