On April 25, 2023 Incurix reported preclinical results of MYC (C-Myc) inhibitor ‘ICX-101’ at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) (Free AACR Whitepaper) (ACCR 2023) (Press release, Incurix, APR 25, 2023, View Source;idx=92&page=1&code=news [SID1234643577]).

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ICX-101 is a substance that Incurix licensed (L/I) from the National Cancer Center and the Korea Research Institute of Chemical Technology in 2023, and Incurix CEO Jeong Kyeong-chae led the drug development. Incurix is ​​developing ICX-101 in the preclinical stage.

Choi Won-young, a senior researcher at the National Cancer Center, presented the results of in vitro research on ICX-101 at the ACCR held in Orlando, USA on the 18th (local time).

ICX-101 is a MYC inhibitor, a small molecule compound that prevents MYC from binding to DNA by forming a dimer with MAX. MYC is a cancer-causing transcription factor and is known to play an important role in cell division and cell survival along with MAX.

In this study, the National Cancer Center evaluated the drug responsiveness of ICX-101 in lung cancer patient-derived cancer cells (PDC). As a result of the study, it was confirmed that cancer cells with higher MYC mRNA levels were more responsive to ICX-101. In addition, MYC expression was found to be high in lung cancer patient-derived cells, especially small cell lung cancer (SCLC).

Specifically, the National Cancer Center collected cancer tissues from 82 lung cancer patients and classified cancer cells according to histological type. Accordingly, a total of 100 samples were collected, including 82 adenocarcinoma, 10 squamous cell carcinoma, 4 non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), and 4 SCLC. As a result of checking the expression level of MYC in these samples, the expression level of MYC was highest in SCLC samples and was found to be significantly higher than that in NSCLC (p=0.004).

Next, the degree of response to ICX-101 was evaluated when the samples were classified into three groups according to the level of MYC expression: top 25%, middle 50%, and bottom 25%. As a result, it was found that samples in the top 25% of MYC expression levels responded more sensitively to ICX-101 than samples in the bottom 25%. It was confirmed that sensitivity to ICX-101 increases as the level of MYC expression increases.

Senior Researcher Choi said, "Looking at the overall survival data of patients from whom PDC was collected, it was confirmed that patients with high MYC expression had a poorer prognosis than patients with low MYC expression. Based on this data, from a long-term perspective, "It is expected that ICX-101 can induce a good response in patients with poor prognosis due to high MYC expression," he said.

Additionally, Senior Researcher Choi explained, "Because SCLC samples were found to have higher MYC expression than NSCLC, we view this as a promising indication for ICX-101."