Abstract LB439: Intra-tumoral administration of releasable hydrogel microsphere drug conjugates for long acting therapeutics
Authors: Hangasky John A. , Henise Jeff , Charych Deborah , Carreras Christopher W. , Ashley Gary , Santi Daniel V. 
Published: April 2024

Background. Intra-tumoral (IT) injections of therapeutics hold promise for the treatment of solid tumors. However, drugs administered directly in the tumor have short IT residence times potentially limiting their exposure and therefore efficacy. We are developing a platform of novel hydrogel microsphere (MS) conjugates that enables long-acting tumor residence after a single injection of the conjugate. We demonstrate this approach not only solves the problem of short acting intra-tumoral therapy, but also allows for the safe administration of two therapies with overlapping toxicities such as SN-38 and a PARP inhibitor (PARPi).

Methods. Hydrogel microsphere (MS) conjugates were prepared and characterized. Using MS conjugates labeled with rhodamine and fluorescein, we established methods to directly measure the IT concentration and half-life of the released drug after IT administration into CT26 tumor bearing mice. We next measured the tissue pharmacokinetics and efficacy of MSs attached to SN-38, a potent topoisomerase 1 inhibitor and immunomodulator, using NSG mice bearing 22Rv1 ATM-/- xenografts. Finally, we measured the anti-tumor efficacy of MS~SN-38 in combination with an oral PARPi, talazoparib, in 22Rv1 ATM-/- xenografts.

Results. We successfully established methods to quantify the concentration of released drug and MS bound drug from tumor biopsies using fluorescent surrogates. When applied to MS~SN-38 conjugates, locally injected tissues showed high levels of SN-38 with a long half-life of about one week. In contrast, the systemic half-life of free SN-38 is ~30 minutes. IT MS~SN-38 was ~10-fold more efficacious as an anti- tumor agent than systemic SN-38 from subcutaneous administration of MS~SN-38. Finally, we show high anti-tumor synergy from the SN-38 localized in a tumor by IT MS~SN-38 in combination with systemic administration of the PARPi talazoparib.

Conclusions. This microsphere technology allows for sustained delivery of high local concentrations of drugs administered intratumorally. Here, IT MS~SN-38 resulted in an intra-tumoral half-life of ~1 week and marked anti-tumor efficacy in 22Rv1 ATM-/- xenografts. We also demonstrated that long-acting IT injections enables safe use of drug combinations with well-described overlapping toxicities such as SN-38 and PARPi. The microsphere technology may offer an alternative strategy for localizing and sustaining drugs in tumors and may mitigate toxicities from combination therapy where two agents have a similar toxicological profile. Other combinations, including small molecules and immuno-oncology agents, are being explored.

Citation Format: John A. Hangasky, Jeff Henise, Deborah Charych, Christopher W. Carreras, Gary Ashley, Daniel V. Santi. Intra-tumoral administration of releasable hydrogel microsphere drug conjugates for long acting therapeutics [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2024; Part 2 (Late-Breaking, Clinical Trial, and Invited Abstracts); 2024 Apr 5-10; San Diego, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2024;84(7_Suppl):Abstract nr LB439.