Abstract P6-21-14: Targeting Rac/Cdc42 in human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2)-positive breast cancer
Authors: Rivera-Robles MJ , Medina-Vlazquez JI , Borrero-Garcia LD , Velazquez-Vega LE , Maldonado MdM , Ruiz-Calderon J , Castillo-Pichardo L , Vivas-Mejia P , Dharmawardhane S 
Published: May 2019

Breast cancer metastasis, when cancer cells move and establish tumors in distant organs, confounds treatment options. Therefore, there is an unmet need for targeted therapeutics to address metastasis, especially in the intractable HER2 positive (+) breast cancer type. HER2 (+) breast cancer is treated with the monoclonal HER2 antibody trastuzumab and the HER2/EGFR targeting small molecule lapatinib. However, ˜20% of early stage breast cancer patients and ˜70% of patients with metastatic disease are resistant to trastuzumab. Trastuzumab-resistant breast cancers circumvent HER2 inhibition via bypass signaling, which includes the PI3-K/Akt/mTOR pathway. HER2/EGFR and PI-3K/Akt signaling activate the Rho GTPases Rac and Cdc42, and overexpression of Rac or its downstream effector p21-activated kinase (PAK) significantly diminishes response to anti HER2 therapy and patient survival. Therefore, targeting Rac and Cdc42, pivotal regulators of cancer cell migration/invasion, and thus, metastasis, is a viable option to overcome HER2/EGFR therapy resistance. First, we designed and developed the Rac inhibitor Ehop-016 (US patents 8,884,006 B2, 9,278,956B1), which inhibits Rac activation with an IC50 of 1 μM and reduces breast cancer growth and metastasis in mouse models of trastuzumab resistant HER2 (+) breast cancer. A more potent dual Rac and Cdc42 inhibitor, MBQ-167 (US Patent 9,981,980 B2), inhibits Rac and Cdc42 activation with IC50s of 103 nM and 78 nM, respectively. In vivo, MBQ-167 inhibits trastuzumab resistant HER2 (+) mammary tumor growth and metastasis by ˜90-100% (Humphries-Bickley et al. 2017, Mol Cancer Therap). Therefore, Rac/Cdc42 inhibition blocks cell proliferation, cell cycle progression, migration, and induces apoptosis to ultimately impede tumor growth and metastasis in trastuzumab resistant HER2 (+) breast cancer models. To further investigate the role of Rac/Cdc42 inhibitors in overcoming HER2 therapy resistance, we developed a lapatinib resistant variant of the SKBR3 HER2 (+) breast cancer cell line and found that Rac was overexpressed and over activated in the therapy resistant variant compared to the parental cells. Accordingly, the Rac/Cdc42 inhibitors overcame lapatinib resistance by decreasing cell viability and inducing apoptosis in parental and SKBR3 therapy resistant variants. Pharmacokinetic analysis in mouse plasma demonstrated that the bioavailability of EHop-016 and MBQ-167 is ˜30% with a half-life of 3-4 h. Therefore, to increase the bioavailability of Rac/Cdc42 inhibitors and to facilitate sensitization of trastuzumab therapy, we designed and developed novel nanoliposomal formulations containing Rac/Cdc42 inhibitors with trastuzumab on the outer surface to target HER2 (+) breast cancer cells. This data demonstrates the utility of developing Rac/Cdc42 inhibitors as mono or combined therapy with current targeted therapeutics for HER2 (+) breast cancer.

Citation Format: Rivera-Robles MJ, Medina-Vlazquez JI, Borrero-Garcia LD, Velazquez-Vega LE, Maldonado MdM, Ruiz-Calderon J, Castillo-Pichardo L, Vivas-Mejia P, Dharmawardhane S. Targeting Rac/Cdc42 in human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2)-positive breast cancer [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 2018 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium; 2018 Dec 4-8; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2019;79(4 Suppl):Abstract nr P6-21-14.