Abstract 1454: Antitumor activity of a selective FAK/Pyk2 inhibitor, SJP1602 against TNBC as well as CRC
Authors: Lee Kug Hwa , Cho Hyoung Min , Park Yongbin , Hong Sungpyo , Ahn Soon Kil , Ki Min-Hyo 
Published: July 2021

Focal adhesion kinase (FAK) is a cytoplasmic tyrosine kinase that serves as a key mediator in response to integrin and growth factor signaling to control multiple aspects of cellular behavior. High expression and/or aberrant activation of FAK is observed in a broad range of human cancers, contributing to malignant phenotype in cancer and development of tumor resistance. FAK, therefore, has been a prominent target in oncology and a small number of FAK inhibitors are currently in clinical development. However, selective FAK inhibitors have shown insufficient antitumor responses due to a potential compensatory role of proline-rich tyrosine kinase 2 (Pyk2), a homologue of FAK, and require dual specific FAK/Pyk2 inhibition. SJP1602 is a novel dual inhibitor of FAK and Pyk2 without multi-kinase inhibition. We have previously reported that SJP1602 is highly specific against FAK and Pyk2 and its antitumor efficacy in triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) is superior over the clinically active FAK inhibitors. In this study, we further assessed pharmacological efficacy of SJP1602 in another type of cancer, colorectal cancer (CRC). As evaluated by cell-based ELISA, SJP1602 has nanomolar potency against FAK and Pyk2 in a panel of CRC cell lines. Validation through immunoblotting analyses revealed significant reduction of FAK/Pyk2 activation by treatment of SJP1602 in CRC cell lines, consistent with previous observations in TNBC cell lines. We then investigated the inhibition efficiency of SJP1602 in three-dimensional (3D) spheroid models using the CRC cell lines. As determined by CellTiter-Glo 3D cell viability assay, SJP1602 showed the significantly lower IC50 values than other FAK inhibitors. Next, to investigate the mechanism of action (MOA) of SJP1602, we examined changes in activation of several FAK/Pyk2-mediated signaling pathways. As shown by immunoblotting analyses, SJP1602 decreased JAK2 and Akt activity and increased the expression levels of cleaved caspase 3, a critical marker of apoptosis. Further assessment of SJP1602 in vivo showed significant antitumor activities in different human CRC xenograft models containing BRAF-mutant or KRAS-mutant tumors. In addition, the specificity and MOA of SJP1602 were confirmed using xenograft tumors. In consistent with in vitro results, SJP1602 reduced JAK2 and Akt activity in tumors from mice with SJP1602 administration. Therefore, our results demonstrate that SJP1602 has the strong antitumor efficacy in vitro and in vivo via downregulation of JAK2 and PI3K/Akt signaling pathways. SJP1602 is currently undergoing preclinical toxicology studies and in vitro safety evaluation. Taken together, our data provides promising preclinical results for the further development of SJP1602 as a potent anti-cancer agent in TNBC, CRC and resistant cancer involving FAK activation.

Citation Format: Kug Hwa Lee, Hyoung Min Cho, Yongbin Park, Sungpyo Hong, Soon Kil Ahn, Min-Hyo Ki. Antitumor activity of a selective FAK/Pyk2 inhibitor, SJP1602 against TNBC as well as CRC [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2021; 2021 Apr 10-15 and May 17-21. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2021;81(13_Suppl):Abstract nr 1454.