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OBJECTIVE Medulloblastoma, the most common pediatric brain malignancy, has Sonic Hedgehog (SHH) and group 3 (Myc driven) subtypes that are associated with the activity of eukaryotic initiation factor 4E (eIF4E), a critical mediator of translation, and enhancer of zeste homolog 2 (EZH2), a histone methyltransferase and master regulator of transcription. Recent drug repurposing efforts in multiple solid and hematologic malignancies have demonstrated that eIF4E and EZH2 are both pharmacologically inhibited by the FDA-approved antiviral drug ribavirin. Given the molecular overlap between medulloblastoma biology and known ribavirin activity, the authors investigated the preclinical efficacy of repurposing ribavirin as a targeted therapeutic in cell and animal models of medulloblastoma. METHODS Multiple in vitro assays were performed using human ONS-76 (a primitive SHH model) and D425 (an aggressive group 3 model) cells. The impacts of ribavirin on cellular growth, death, migration, and invasion were quantified using proliferation and Cell Counting Kit-8 (CCK-8) assays, flow cytometry with annexin V (AnnV) staining, scratch wound assays, and Matrigel invasion chambers, respectively. Survival following daily ribavirin treatment (100 mg/kg) was assessed in vivo in immunodeficient mice intracranially implanted with D425 cells. RESULTS Compared to controls, ribavirin treatment led to a significant reduction in medulloblastoma cell growth (ONS-76 proliferation assay, p = 0.0001; D425 CCK-8 assay, p < 0.0001) and a significant increase in cell death (flow cytometry for AnnV, ONS-76, p = 0.0010; D425, p = 0.0284). In ONS-76 cells, compared to controls, ribavirin significantly decreased cell migration and invasion (Matrigel invasion chamber assay, p = 0.0012). In vivo, ribavirin significantly extended survival in an aggressive group 3 medulloblastoma mouse model compared to vehicle-treated controls (p = 0.0004). CONCLUSIONS The authors demonstrate that ribavirin, a clinically used drug known to inhibit eIF4E and EZH2, has significant antitumor effects in multiple preclinical models of medulloblastoma, including an aggressive group 3 animal model. Ribavirin may represent a promising targeted therapeutic in medulloblastoma.

Fanconi anemia (FA) is an inherited disorder associated with loss of function mutations in gene members of the FA-BRCA pathway involved in interstrand cross-link DNA damage repair during cell division. Progressive bone marrow failure (BMF) is a primary cause of morbidity and mortality in patients with FA. Allogeneic hematopoietic stem and progenitor cell (HSPC) transplantation is the only curative treatment for FA-associated BMF. However, donor availability, graft failure, and FA-specific transplant toxicities remain significant hurdles. Attempts at genetic correction of FA are underway but collection of sufficient numbers of autologous HSPCs is challenging in subjects with advanced BMF. Androgens have been successfully used but side effects often prevent prolonged therapy. The orally bioavailable small molecule mimetic of thrombopoietin, eltrombopag (EPAG), was recently shown to stimulate multipotent long-term repopulating HSPCs in patients with acquired BMF, resulting in persistent trilineage hematopoiesis. EPAG promotes DNA repair (Guenther, Exp Hematol 2019) and maintains HSPCs under inflammatory conditions (Alvarado, Blood 2019), indicating potential relevance in FA. In this study, we investigated whether EPAG may offer a novel therapeutic modality for FA-associated BMF. We have enrolled 10 patients (FANCA, n=9 and FANCC, n=1) to date in a prospective phase I/II study of EPAG in Fanconi anemia (NCT03204188). All subjects received EPAG at an oral daily dose adjusted for age and ethnicity. The primary efficacy endpoint was the proportion of subjects with at least 2-fold increase in marrow cellularity or CD34+ HSPC frequency (marrow response), or clinically significant improvement in peripheral blood (PB) counts at 6 months (blood response). The primary safety endpoint was the global toxicity profile assessed at 6 months using CTCAE criteria. Responders were invited to continue on the extension phase of the study for an additional 3 years. Four of 10 patients have reached the 6-month assessment endpoint, and a pre-specified 3-month interim analysis is available on two additional subjects. A marrow response was observed in all 4 subjects at 6 months. Mean marrow cellularity increased by a factor of 4 (Fig. A/B), and CD34+ HSPC frequency improved 2.5-fold at 6 months relative to pre-treatment values (Fig. C/D). Marrow response criteria were also met in the other two subjects at the 3-month interim assessment. Primary PB response was observed in 2 of 4 patients in one (hemoglobin) or two lineages (hemoglobin and platelets) at 6 months of treatment. Responders continue to receive EPAG at 10 or 25 months with sustained improvements in blood counts and transfusion independence. The subject treated for 25 months recently met response criteria in a third lineage (neutrophils) (Fig. E). Both patients who had a marrow but no PB response are clinically well; one subject (FANCA) underwent an unrelated allogeneic HSPC transplantation one year ago, and the other subject (FANCC) recently entered the extension phase of this study. Unilineage PB response criteria were also met in one of two subjects at the 3-month interim assessment. No drug-related serious adverse events have occurred during EPAG treatment. All patients tolerated the maximum dose of EPAG and no interruption or dose reduction was required for adverse events attributable to EPAG. Patients without transfusional iron overload at study entry developed progressive depletion of iron stores attributable to the known potent iron chelating and mobilizing properties of EPAG. At a median of 3 months after initiating EPAG (range, 1 to 6 months), affected patients initiated daily oral iron supplementation with gradual amelioration of iron store levels. To date, there has been no occurrence of marrow fibrosis, solid malignancies or clonal evolution, defined as abnormalities on standard metaphase analysis of bone marrow or overt clinical transformation to MDS/AML. In sum, treatment with EPAG was associated with increased marrow HSPCs in all subjects and PB responses in a subset of patients with Fanconi anemia. The overall safety profile was favorable. Further follow-up and expansion of the ongoing patient cohort will confirm EPAG's potential as a safe and efficient long-term therapeutic modality for FA-associated BMF. Alternatively, EPAG could also be used safely to boost marrow CD34+ cell numbers prior to autologous gene therapy applications. Figure 1 Figure 1. Disclosures No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.

The growing cost of medical care worldwide, particularly in oncology, has incentivized researchers and physicians to repurpose clinically used drugs to alleviate the financial burden of drug development and offer potential new therapeutics. Recent works have demonstrated anticancer properties of the FDA-approved drug ribavirin, a synthetic guanosine analogue and antiviral molecule used over the past four decades for the treatment of hepatitis C. The efficacy of ribavirin in cancer has been explored through several preclinical models and ongoing clinical trials in multiple cancers, including acute myeloid leukemia, oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma, and metastatic breast cancer. In this review, we summarize the role of ribavirin as an antiviral medication and focus our attention on its recent use as an antitumoral agent. We highlight current knowledge of the potential use and mechanisms of action of ribavirin in cancer. Because current therapeutics for patients with cancer still fail to cure, introducing new forms of treatment is essential. Converging evidence suggests that ribavirin represents a promising addition to a generation of newly repurposed safe and effective anticancer agents.

Atypical teratoid/rhabdoid tumors (AT/RT) are highly aggressive, malignant tumors and are the most common malignant brain tumor in children under 6 months of age. Currently, there is no standard treatment for AT/RT. Recent studies have reported potential anti-tumoral properties of ribavirin, a guanosine analog and anti-viral molecule approved by the Food and Drug Administration for treatment of hepatitis C. We previously demonstrated that ribavirin inhibited glioma cell growth in vitro and in vivo. Based on these results and the fact that no pre-clinical model of ribavirin in AT/RT exists, we decided to investigate the effect of ribavirin on several human AT/RT cell lines (BT12, BT16, and BT37) both in vitro and in vivo. We provide evidence that ribavirin has a significant impact on AT/RT cell growth and increases cell cycle arrest and cell death, potentially through modulation of the eIF4E and/or EZH2 pathways. Interestingly, using scratch wound and transwell Boyden chamber assays, we observed that ribavirin also impairs AT/RT cell migration, invasion, and adhesion. Finally, we demonstrate that ribavirin significantly improves the survival of mice orthotopically implanted with BT12 cells. Our work establishes that ribavirin is effective against AT/RT by decreasing tumoral cell growth and dissemination and could represent a new therapeutic option for children with this deadly disease.

The median survival for glioblastoma patients is ~15 months despite aggressive surgery and radio-chemotherapy approaches. Thus, developing new therapeutics is necessary to improve the treatment of these invasive brain tumors, which are known to show high levels of the eukaryotic initiation factor, eIF4E, a potent oncogene. Ribavirin, the only clinically approved drug known to target eIF4E, is an anti-viral molecule currently used in hepatitis C treatment. Here, we report the effect of ribavirin on proliferation, cell cycle, cell death and migration of several human and murine glioma cell lines, as well as human glioblastoma stem-like cells, in vitro. In addition, we tested ribavirin efficacy in vivo, alone and in combination with temozolomide and radiation. Our work showed that ribavirin inhibits glioma cell growth and migration, and increases cell cycle arrest and cell death, potentially through modulation of the eIF4E, EZH2 and ERK pathways. We also demonstrate that ribavirin treatment in combination with temozolomide or irradiation increases cell death in glioma cells. Finally and most importantly, ribavirin treatment in vivo significantly enhances chemo-radiotherapy efficacy and improves survival of rats and mice orthotopically implanted with gliosarcoma tumors or glioma stem-like cells, respectively. On the basis of these results, we propose that ribavirin represents a new therapeutic option for glioblastoma patients as an enhancer of the cytotoxic effects of temozolomide and radiotherapy.