NEW YORK – Houston-based Salarius Pharmaceuticals on Wednesday said it will work with the Cancer Epigenetics Institute at Fox Chase Cancer Center to identify new indications and potential biomarkers for its investigational LSD1 inhibitor seclidemstat.
LSD1 is an enzyme implicated in the development of cancer. Although other LSD1 inhibitors in development have shown promising activity in hematologic cancers, Salarius believes seclidemstat can be particularly effective against LSD1-driven solid tumors by targeting its enzymatic activity and scaffolding properties.
"Overexpression of the LSD1 enzyme is associated with poor prognosis across a variety of cancer types," Johnathan Whetstine, whose laboratory at the Cancer Epigenetics Institute will conduct this research, said in a statement. "Building on our prior research expertise and knowledge, we will explore the impact of LSD1 depletion and LSD1 catalytic inhibition on the transcriptome in order to better understand the enzyme's catalytic and non-catalytic functions and the impact of seclidemstat on those functions."
Fox Chase and Salarius are already conducting a Phase I/II trial of seclidemstat in patients with myxoid liposarcoma and other FET-rearranged sarcomas. In this study, researchers are also exploring the activity of seclidemstat with chemotherapy as a second- and third-line therapy for Ewing sarcoma patients. Fox Chase is one of nine clinical trial sites enrolling patients for this trial.
Additionally, Salarius is working with MD Anderson Cancer Center to study seclidemstat in combination with azacytidine in myelodysplastic syndromes and chronic myelomonocytic leukemia.