Uncovering α-Selectivity for Liver X Receptor Agonists for Lipotoxic Cancer Therapies

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most frequent causes of cancer-related deaths worldwide. We recently showed that pharmacologically induced lipotoxicity represents a promising therapeutic strategy for the treatment of HCC. Synthetic LXRα agonists induce the production of toxic saturated fatty acids in tumor cells. When combined with DFG-out Raf inhibitors, which block fatty acid desaturation by inducing proteasomal degradation of stearoyl-CoA desaturase (SCD1), LXRα activation can trigger lipotoxicity-induced cancer cell death. However, the clinical translation of this therapeutic strategy is limited by the lack of specific LXRα agonists for clinical use. Here, we have developed a series of promising maleimide LXR agonists with increased potency for LXRα and enhanced specificity. Our agonist frontrunner 40 shows high selectivity for LXRα and strong therapeutic efficacy in HCC organoids, therefore illustrating a strong potential for advancing this lipotoxic treatment strategy to clinical application.