2. Academic Validation
  3. A triple-action PROTAC for wild-type p53 cancer therapy

A triple-action PROTAC for wild-type p53 cancer therapy

  • Cell Rep Med. 2025 Dec 16;6(12):102467. doi: 10.1016/j.xcrm.2025.102467.
Gregory H Bird 1,  Utsarga Adhikary 1,  Michael J Schmidt 1,  Marina Godes 1,  Bethany Tesar 1,  Christina M Camara 1,  Joao A Paulo 2,  Julia F Vidlak 1,  Thomas M DeAngelo 1,  Marilyn Marquez 3,  Prafulla Gokhale 3,  Ruitong Li 4,  Shannan J Ho Sui 5,  Michael D Cameron 6,  Steven P Gygi 2,  Loren D Walensky 7
Affiliations

Affiliations

  • 1 Department of Pediatric Oncology and Chemical Biology Program, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA 02215, USA.
  • 2 Department of Cell Biology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02215, USA.
  • 3 Experimental Therapeutics Core, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA 02215, USA.
  • 4 Broad Institute, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA.
  • 5 Bioinformatics Core, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA.
  • 6 Department of Molecular Medicine, University of Florida Scripps Institute, Jupiter, FL 33458, USA.
  • 7 Department of Pediatric Oncology and Chemical Biology Program, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA 02215, USA. Electronic address: [email protected].
PMID: 41308642 DOI: 10.1016/j.xcrm.2025.102467
Abstract

Despite the central role of p53 suppression in Cancer pathogenesis, the promise of therapeutic p53 reactivation remains unrealized, with targeted and combination chemotherapies limited by efficacy, toxicity, and delivery. To overcome these challenges, we introduce a triple-action proteolysis targeting chimera (TAPTAC) that simultaneously targets three oncogenic mechanisms to reactivate Apoptosis. TAPTAC1 diverts HDM2 from degrading p53 to eliminating oncogenic targets such as BET proteins, while also blocking HDMX-mediated sequestration, thereby maximizing p53 reactivation in concert with Cancer protein degradation. TAPTAC1 outperforms combination treatments and PROTACs that target HDM2 and BET proteins, but not HDMX, and is broadly effective in wild-type (WT) p53 cancers, including mouse models of osteosarcoma and leukemia. Importantly, TAPTAC1 leverages Cancer dependency on HDM2 to enhance selectivity and mitigate toxicity. With WT p53 retained in 90% of pediatric and 50% of adult cancers, TAPTACs provide a therapeutic platform for addressing key limitations of prior anti-cancer strategies.

Keywords

Apoptosis; BET inhibitor; BRD4; Cancer; HDM2; HDMX; PROTAC; TAPTAC; degrader; p53; stapled p53 peptide; therapeutics.

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