Abstract C095: The menin inhibitor VTP-50469 enhances the in vivo efficacy of established drugs against preclinical models of aggressive infant MLL-r acute lymphoblastic leukemia
Authors: Lock Richard B , Evans Kathryn , Gawan-Taylor Sophia , Watts Ben , Stearns Timothy , Earley Eric J , Jocoy Emily L , Bult Carol J , Teicher Beverly A , McGeehan Gerard M , Smith Malcolm A 
Published: December 2023

Introduction: Over 70% of infants with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) present with mixed lineage leukemia (MLL1/KMT2A) gene rearrangements (MLL-r ALL), which is associated with poor prognosis. MLL-r encodes oncogenic fusion proteins that cause aberrant chromatin histone methylation and leukemic transformation of hematopoietic progenitors. A characteristic of MLL-r leukemia is high expression of the FLT3 gene. Menin is critical for leukemic transformation by MLL fusion proteins. VTP-50469, the preclinical precursor of revumenib (SNDX-5613), is a potent and selective small molecule inhibitor of the Menin-MLL interaction that has shown impressive single-agent activity in preclinical models of MLL-r acute leukemia. Revumenib is currently undergoing clinical evaluation, therefore it was of interest to assess the in vivo activity of VTP-50469 in combination with established drugs against MLL-r ALL patient-derived xenografts (PDXs).

Methods: VTP-50469 was tested as a single agent against a panel of 7 pediatric MLL-r ALL PDXs in immune-deficient (NSG) mice (120 mg/kg twice daily x 28 days via oral gavage). Combination studies used VTP-50469 formulated in chow (0.1%) available ad libitum for 28 days in combination with either an induction-type regimen of vincristine (0.15 mg/kg once weekly x 4 weeks), dexamethasone (5 mg/kg) and L-asparaginase (1,000 U/kg) both 5 days on 2 days off x 4 weeks, VXL) all administered intraperitoneally, or the FLT3 inhibitor gilteritinib (Xospata, 30 mg/kg x 28 days via oral gavage). Events were defined as &gt;25% huCD45+ in the peripheral blood. Drug efficacy was assessed by event-free survival of treated (T) and control (C) groups by T-C, T/C measurements and stringent objective response criteria (progressive disease, PD; complete response, CR; maintained CR, MCR), and disease infiltration in the spleen and femoral bone marrow (BM) at 28 days post-treatment initiation.

Results: Single-agent VTP-50469 elicited MCRs in 6/7 PDXs and significantly (P&lt;0.0001) reduced leukemia infiltration of the spleen (7/7 PDXs) and BM (6/7 PDXs) compared to vehicle control mice. When administered in chow, VTP-50469 elicited a CR in the MLL-7 PDX (T-C 48.2 days, T/C 8.1) and a PD in MLL-8 (T-C 23.0 days, T/C 4.9). VTP-50469 combined with VXL elicited MCRs in both PDXs (MLL-7 T-C 77.0 days, T/C 12.3; MLL-8 T-C 49.1 days, T/C 9.3) and significantly delayed leukemia progression compared with VTP-50469 or VXL alone (P=0.0013). Moreover, VTP-50469 combined with VXL almost completely eradicated leukemia infiltration of spleens and BMs by both PDXs. VTP-50469 combined with gilteritinib did not result in therapeutic enhancement compared to each single agent arm in either PDX.

Conclusions: The addition of VTP-50469 to a standard-of-care induction-type regimen (VXL) resulted in therapeutic enhancement against two infant MLL-r ALL PDXs, while VTP-50469 plus gilteritinib was substantially less effective. These results support further clinical evaluation of revumenib in combination with standard-of-care therapy in MLL-r leukemia.

Citation Format: Richard B Lock, Kathryn Evans, Sophia Gawan-Taylor, Ben Watts, Timothy Stearns, Eric J Earley, Emily L Jocoy, Carol J Bult, Beverly A Teicher, Gerard M McGeehan, Malcolm A Smith. The menin inhibitor VTP-50469 enhances the in vivo efficacy of established drugs against preclinical models of aggressive infant MLL-r acute lymphoblastic leukemia [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR-NCI-EORTC Virtual International Conference on Molecular Targets and Cancer Therapeutics; 2023 Oct 11-15; Boston, MA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Mol Cancer Ther 2023;22(12 Suppl):Abstract nr C095.