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I. Shapiro
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MINI 38 - Biology and Prognosis (ID 167)
- Event: WCLC 2015
- Type: Mini Oral
- Track: Thymoma, Mesothelioma and Other Thoracic Malignancies
- Presentations: 1
- Moderators:R. Tsuchiya, M. Wynes
- Coordinates: 9/09/2015, 18:30 - 20:00, 702+704+706
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MINI38.01 - FAK Inhibitor VS-6063 Targets Mesothelioma Cancer Stem Cells: Rationale for Maintenance Therapy after Conventional Chemotherapy (ID 2710)
18:30 - 18:35 | Author(s): I. Shapiro
- Abstract
- Presentation
Background:
Malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM) is an aggressive tumor in the pleural lining of the lung and peritoneum with median overall survival with standard of care (SOC) chemotherapy only 12 months from diagnosis. This poor prognosis may be attributed at least in part to cancer stem cells (CSCs) that are resistant to chemotherapy and can mediate cancer recurrence and progression. Focal adhesion kinase (FAK) plays an essential role in the survival, self-renewal and tumor-initiating capability of CSCs. The FAK inhibitor VS-6063 (defactinib) is currently being tested in patients with MPM following disease control on standard pemetrexed/platinum chemotherapy (COMMAND, ClinicalTrials.gov NCT01870609).
Methods:
An Aldefluor assay, previously validated as a CSC assay (Shapiro et al., 2014), was used to assess the effects of chemotherapy or VS-6063 on CSCs in vitro. Tumor initiating potential of MPM cells after treatment with SOC agents, and VS-6063 alone or in combination with pemetrexed was measured in vivo. CSC marker expression in MPM patient tumor samples was measured by IHC, Q-PCR and RNASeq analysis. Novel CSC markers were validated in an in vivo limiting dilution assay.
Results:
Treatment of a human MPM cell line with pemetrexed or cisplatin, the SOC therapy for mesothelioma, resulted in a 6-fold enrichment of ALDH-positive CSCs. In direct contrast, the FAK inhibitor VS-6063 markedly reduced the proportion of CSCs. Control and pemetrexed-treated MPM cells showed robust tumor initiation in vivo, while cells treated with VS-6063 alone or VS-6063 plus pemetrexed had decreased tumor initiating capacity. FAK inhibitor was found to selectively induce apoptosis in CSCs, indicating that the mechanism of their elimination is cell death. In addition to ALDH, several new mesothelioma CSC markers were validated in in vivo limiting dilution assay and their clinical utility was assessed. An increase in CSC markers, including ALDH1, CD133 and CXCR2, was observed in tumor samples from 11 patients following first line pemetrexed-cisplatin chemotherapy. In tumor biopsies from MPM patients treated for 12 days with VS-6063, tumor pFAK (Y397) and expression of CSC markers was reduced. Interestingly, gene expression analysis of these samples revealed an inhibition of CSC pathways after VS-6063 administration. VS-6063 maintained the effect of chemotherapy in patient-derived xenograft (PDX) mouse model. Treatment with pemetrexed/cisplatin resulted in tumor growth inhibition followed by rapid tumor re-growth upon cessation of the treatment. Tumor re-growth was substantially delayed when FAK inhibitor was administered after chemotherapy.
Conclusion:
These data provide a strong rationale for the current clinical testing of VS-6063 following treatment with pemetrexed plus platinum to potentially prolong time to progression in patients with mesothelioma.
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