Gui-sheng Yang, Huixia Dou, Liting Xue, Weijie Chen, Yao Guo, Grace Xue, Ying Sun, Hanxiao Shi, Jian Li, Jianing Song, Zhen Li, Congjun Zhang, Renhong Tang, F. Zhou
2026.4.21MOLECULAR CANCER THERAPEUTICS
Abstract
Protein arginine methyltransferase 5 (PRMT5) is a critical therapeutic target in cancer. In this study, we report SCR-6920, a potent and selective oral PRMT5 inhibitor characterized by a substrate-competitive binding mode to PRMT5:methylosome protein 50 with high affinity. SCR-6920 shows broad antitumor activity in vitro and in vivo, along with favorable pharmacokinetics and tumor-biased distribution. Notably, RNA sequencing analysis links vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) to PRMT5, and further studies show that SCR-6920 downregulates hypoxia-inducible factor-1α (HIF-1α) through the ubiquitin-proteasome degradation pathway, thereby reducing downstream VEGF expression and secretion. Thus, PRMT5 inhibition enhances hypoxia-induced pathway disruption, and a further in vivo efficacy study demonstrates a synergistic effect for SCR-6920 combined with bevacizumab against ovarian cancer. Additionally, SCR-6920 improves the efficacy of clinical first-line ovarian cancer therapies (paclitaxel, docetaxel, doxorubicin, and olaparib). This study identifies a promising PRMT5 inhibitor with synergistic activity with bevacizumab and reveals its regulation of HIF-1α signaling, highlighting the therapeutic potential of PRMT5 inhibition in combination regimens for ovarian cancer.
Citation format
YANG, Gui-sheng, et al. PRMT5 inhibition by SCR-6920 downregulates HIF-1α and exhibits synergistic antitumor activity with bevacizumab in ovarian cancer. MOLECULAR CANCER THERAPEUTICS, 2026: OF1-OF12.