HC-1119, a deuterated Enzalutamide, inhibits Migration, Invasion and Metastasis of the AR-positive triple-negative breast Cancer cells

Triple-negative breast cancers (TNBCs) are aggressive, and they develop metastasis at earlier stages, relapse more frequently, and exhibits poorer prognosis than other subtypes of breast cancer. Due to the lack of estrogen receptor for endocrine therapy and HER2 for targeted therapy, new targeted therapies for TNBCs are urgently needed. Enzalutamide is a second-generation androgen receptor (AR) inhibitor, and HC-1119 is a new synthetic deuterated enzalutamide. Owing to the isotope effect, HC-1119 has many advantages over enzalutamide, including slow metabolism, high plasma concentration and low brain exposure. However, the efficacy of HC-1119 in inhibition of AR function in triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) has not been studied. In this study, we found high-level AR expression in both Hs578T and SUM159PT TNBC cell lines. Activation of AR by dihydrotestosterone (DHT) in both cell lines increased AR protein, induced AR-nuclear localization, enhanced cell migration and invasion in culture, and promoted liver metastasis in mice. Importantly, cotreatment with HC-1119 of these cells efficiently abolished all of these effects of DHT on both Hs578T and SUM159PT cells. These results indicate that HC-1119 is a very effective new second-generation AR antagonist that can inhibit the migration, invasion and metastasis of the AR-positive TNBC cells. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11033-022-07749-8.