Abstract 2575: Avanbulin, the active moiety of the tumor checkpoint controller lisavanbulin (BAL101553), has anti-lymphoma activity
Authors: Spriano Filippo , Aresu Luca , Cascione Luciano , Arribas Alberto J. , Forster-Gross Nicole , Bachmann Felix , Lane Heidi , Bertoni Francesco 
Published: June 2022

Background: Avanbulin (BAL27862) is a microtubule-targeting agent (MTA) that promotes tumor cell death by modulating the spindle assembly checkpoint. Preclinical studies in glioblastoma (GBM) have shown that avanbulin is also active in human cancer cells resistant to other MTAs used in the clinic. Lisavanbulin (BAL101553) is a water-soluble, oral, lysine prodrug of avanbulin, currently in phase 1/2 for patients with recurrent GBM and, in combination with radiotherapy, for newly diagnosed GBM patients. Preclinical studies and clinical signals have also suggested an association between lisavanbulin activity and expression of microtubule plus-end binding protein (EB1). MTAs are active agents for lymphoma patients, as exemplified by the inclusion of vincristine in the R-CHOP regimen, standard treatment for diffuse large B cell lymphoma (DLBCL). Thus, our aim was to evaluate avanbulin, the active moiety of lisavanbulin, for its potential anti-lymphoma activity.

Methods: Lymphoma cell lines derived from activated B cell like (ABC) and germinal center B cell type (GCB) DLBCL were exposed to increasing doses of avanbulin; cell proliferation was measured with MTT. Apoptosis induction was performed with annexin V staining on cells incubated in a live cell imaging system (Incucyte) treated with 5, 10, 20 or 40nM avanbulin. Images were taken every 4h for 72h. Cell cycle analysis was performed after 24, 48 and 72h of drug exposure at 20nM.

Results: 26 DLBCL cell lines, treated for 72h with increasing avanbulin doses, showed high anti-proliferative activity of the compound, with a median IC50 = 11nM. No differences in terms of IC50 were observed comparing ABC (n=8) to GCB (n=18) DLBCLs, nor based on MYD88, TP53 and BCL2 status. Cell lines with MYC translocation were less sensitive than the ones without translocation. All lymphoma cell lines exhibited high EB1 RNA expression, with no correlation with sensitivity to avanbulin.Live cell imaging demonstrated a strong apoptosis induction in 15 out of 17 cell lines tested at 20 and 40nM. Among the 15 cell lines undergoing apoptosis, 8 cell lines already showed an apoptosis induction within 24h of drug exposure, 6 lines between 24 and 48h and 1 line after 48h exposure. These data confirmed the high activity of avanbulin already seen with the MTT assay.Cell cycle experiments performed at 24, 48 and 72h confirmed the strong cytotoxic effect of avanbulin in 4 DLBCL cell lines, including 2 ABC (OCILY3 and TMD8) and 2 GCB (SUDHL5 and SUDHL16) lines. Sub-G0 accumulation was already present at 24h in all 4 cell lines tested, with an increase over time. Especially at 24h, where we also observed a G2-M arrest in 3 out of 4 cell lines.

Conclusions: Our data demonstrate the high cytotoxic anti-lymphoma activity of avanbulin, suggesting a potential activity of its prodrug lisavanbulin in lymphoma patients.

Citation Format: Filippo Spriano, Luca Aresu, Luciano Cascione, Alberto J. Arribas, Nicole Forster-Gross, Felix Bachmann, Heidi Lane, Francesco Bertoni. Avanbulin, the active moiety of the tumor checkpoint controller lisavanbulin (BAL101553), has anti-lymphoma activity [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2022; 2022 Apr 8-13. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2022;82(12_Suppl):Abstract nr 2575.