A series of substituted 2-(aminopyridyl)- and 2-(aminopyrimidinyl)thiazole-5-carboxamides was identified as potent Src/Abl kinase inhibitors with excellent antiproliferative activity against hematological and solid tumor cell lines. Compound 13 was orally active in a K562 xenograft model of chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML), demonstrating complete tumor regressions and low toxicity at multiple dose levels. On the basis of its robust in vivo activity and favorable pharmacokinetic profile, 13 was selected for additional characterization for oncology indications.
BackgroundTGFβ signaling plays a pleotropic role in tumor biology, promoting tumor proliferation, invasion and metastasis, and escape from immune surveillance. Inhibiting TGFβ’s immune suppressive effects has become of particular interest as a way to increase the benefit of cancer immunotherapy. Here we utilized preclinical models to explore the impact of the clinical stage TGFβ pathway inhibitor, galunisertib, on anti-tumor immunity at clinically relevant doses.ResultsIn vitro treatment with galunisertib reversed TGFβ and regulatory T cell mediated suppression of human T cell proliferation. In vivo treatment of mice with established 4T1-LP tumors resulted in strong dose-dependent anti-tumor activity with close to 100% inhibition of tumor growth and complete regressions upon cessation of treatment in 50% of animals. This effect was CD8+ T cell dependent, and led to increased T cell numbers in treated tumors. Mice with durable regressions rejected tumor rechallenge, demonstrating the establishment of immunological memory. Consequently, mice that rejected immunogenic 4T1-LP tumors were able to resist rechallenge with poorly immunogenic 4 T1 parental cells, suggesting the development of a secondary immune response via antigen spreading as a consequence of effective tumor targeting. Combination of galunisertib with PD-L1 blockade resulted in improved tumor growth inhibition and complete regressions in colon carcinoma models, demonstrating the potential synergy when cotargeting TGFβ and PD-1/PD-L1 pathways. Combination therapy was associated with enhanced anti-tumor immune related gene expression profile that was accelerated compared to anti-PD-L1 monotherapy.ConclusionsTogether these data highlight the ability of galunisertib to modulate T cell immunity and the therapeutic potential of combining galunisertib with current PD-1/L1 immunotherapy.
Purpose: Chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) is caused by reciprocal translocation between chromosomes 9 and 22, forming BCR-ABL, a constitutively activated tyrosine kinase. Imatinib mesylate, a selective inhibitor of BCR-ABL, represents current frontline therapy for CML; however, emerging evidence suggests that drug resistance to imatinib may limit its long-term success. To improve treatment options, dasatinib (BMS-354825) was developed as a novel, oral, multitargeted kinase inhibitor of BCR-ABL and SRC family kinases. To date, dasatinib has shown promising anti-leukemic activity in preclinical models of CML and in phase I/II clinical studies in patients with imatinib-resistant or imatinib-intolerant disease. Experimental Design: The pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic biomarkers of dasatinib were investigated in K562 human CML xenografts grown s.c. in severe combined immunodeficient mice. Tumoral levels of phospho-BCR-ABL/phospho-CrkL were determined by Western blot. Results: Following a single oral administration of dasatinib at a preclinical efficacious dose of 1.25 or 2.5 mg/kg, tumoral phospho-BCR-ABL/phospho-CrkL were maximally inhibited at f3 hours and recovered to basal levels by 24 hours. The time course and extent of the inhibition correlated with the plasma levels of dasatinib in mice. Pharmacokinetic/biomarker modeling predicted that the plasma concentration of dasatinib required to inhibit 90% of phospho-BCR-ABL in vivo was 10.9 ng/mL in mice and 14.6 ng/mL in humans, which is within the range of concentrations achieved in CML patients who responded to dasatinib treatment in the clinic. Conclusions: Phospho-BCR-ABL/phospho-CrkL are likely to be useful clinical biomarkers for the assessment of BCR-ABL kinase inhibition by dasatinib.
In the present study, we compared the preclinical optimal dose and the corresponding active plasma concentration determined in mice with those being observed in cancer patients, i.e. 65-100 microg/ml. The preclinical optimal dose of 0.25 mg/inj was significantly lower than the current clinical dose. However, the active plasma concentration at 0.25 mg/inj is within the range of the active drug concentrations in cancer patients treated with Cetuximab under the current optimal dosing regimen. It appears that the active plasma drug concentration determined in preclinical model predicts better than the optimal preclinical dose for the clinical development of antibody drugs.
Although Erbitux (cetuximab) has proven therapeutic benefit in the clinical setting, the molecular determinants predicting responsiveness to this agent are still not very well understood. Here, we assessed the relationship between basal total and activated (pY1068) epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) levels in a tumor and the responsiveness to cetuximab monotherapy or combination-based treatment using human xenograft models. Cetuximab treatment alone (0.25 -1 mg/mouse/injection, q3d, i.p.) effectively delayed the growth of GEO and L2987 tumors by a minimum of 10 days corresponding to log cell kill values of z1.0. Borderline activity was seen in the A549 and WiDr xenografts. However, cetuximab failed to show any significant antitumor activity in the HT29, HCT116, LOVO, Colo205, LX-1, HCC70, and N87 models. All of the studied tumors had detectable yet variable levels of EGFR. For combination regimens, cetuximab (1 mg/mouse/injection, q3dx5, i.p.) and cisplatin (4.5 mg/kg/injection, q3dx5, i.v.) proved to be significantly more efficacious than individual monotherapies in the cisplatin-refractory yet cetuximab-responsive GEO tumor model (P < 0.001). However, no therapeutic enhancement was observed in the cisplatin and cetuximab weakly responsive A549 xenograft. Similarly, combinations of CPT-11 (48 mg/kg/injection, q3dx5, i.v.) with cetuximab (1 mg/mouse/injection, q3dx5, i.p.) failed to show any improvements over individual monotherapies in the cetuximab resistant/weakly responsive HT29, A549, and WiDr models. We conclude that preclinical activity associated with cetuximab monotherapy does not correlate directly with relative basal levels of total or activated (pY1068) EGFR in a tumor. Moreover, robust single-agent activity by cetuximab may be the best predictor for this agent to potentiate chemotherapy-mediated antitumor activities. [Mol Cancer Ther 2006;5(1):104 -13]
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