Abstract 5293: Rationally developing antibody drug conjugates targeting genomically stable gastric cancer
Authors: Xu Rui , Yuan Li , Guan Xiao-Qing , Yao Shi-Li , Zhu Bing , Yang Tong , Liu Chun , Guo Peng , Qin Jiang-Jiang , Cheng Xiang-Dong 
Published: June 2022

Background: Gastric cancer (GC) ranks the fifth most common cancer and the fourth most frequent cause of cancer-related deaths. Genomically stable gastric cancers (GSGCs) represent 20% of all GCs and GSGC patients have the worst prognosis among all GC subtypes. Although two HER2-targeted antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs), RC48 and DS8201, have shown promising clinical efficacies, most GSGC patients do not benefit from these ADCs due to the infrequent and heterogeneous HER2 expression. Therefore, there remains a significant and unmet medical need for developing novel ADCs targeting GSGC tumors.

Methods: In this presented study, a quantitative and unbiased approach was first used to identify potential targets for GSGC in a panel of human GSGC cell lines in reference with two normal human gastric epithelial cells. Cell membrane localizations of potential targets on GSGC cell lines were determined by immunofluorescent (IF) staining. To correlate it with clinically-relevant GSGC tumor samples, immunohistochemical (IHC) staining of potential targets were performed in human diffuse GC tumor tissues along with normal gastric tissues. Next, GSGC cellular internalization capability of antibodies against potential targets was evaluated. Then, an optimized target was selected for developing GSGC-targeted ADCs. A series of ADC formulations with different linkers and payloads were constructed and characterized. Their anti-tumor activities against GSGC cell lines were subsequently screened in order to identify the optimized ADC formulation. Eventually, the anti-tumor activity and biosafety profile of the optimized ADC formulation were determined in suppressing tumor growth, progression and metastasis by using established orthotopic and peritoneal metastasis models of GSGC.

Results: We first identified CD54 as a potential molecular target for human GSGCs using comparative flow cytometric analysis. We next evaluated its potential as an ADC target for GSGC-targeted therapy by determining its overexpression levels, cell membrane localizations, and cell internalization activity in GSGC cells. Furthermore, we constructed and characterized a panel of CD54-targeted ADCs and identified an optimized ADC formulation by quantitatively determining their half maximum inhibitory concentrations (IC50s) and validated its anti-tumor efficacy against GSGC tumors. Meanwhile, there was no evidence to indicate histopathological damages to normal organs in the optimized ADC treated group.

Conclusions: In this study, we identified a molecular target for GSGC using an unbiased and quantitative screening assay and explored its potential application in developing GSGC-targeted ADCs. In order to maximize its efficacy, we optimized the ADC formulations against GSGC cells using different ADC linkers and payloads. Our study provides a promising targeted therapeutic candidate for the clinical treatment of GSGC.

Citation Format: Rui Xu, Li Yuan, Xiao-Qing Guan, Shi-Li Yao, Bing Zhu, Tong Yang, Chun Liu, Peng Guo, Jiang-Jiang Qin, Xiang-Dong Cheng. Rationally developing antibody drug conjugates targeting genomically stable gastric cancer [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 5293.