Abstract LB-390: Antitumor efficacy of crizotinib (PF-02341066), a potent and selective ALK and c-Met RTK inhibitor, in EML4-ALK driven NSCLC tumors in vitro and in vivo

EML4-ALK fusion was recently characterized as an “Addicted Oncogene” in a subset of human lung adenocarcinoma, and it plays an essential role in regulation of the tumor cell survival, growth and metastasis. Crizotinib is a potent and selective ATP competitive small molecule inhibitor of ALK and c-Met. It is currently in clinical trials for advanced non-small cell lung cancers positive for ALK fusion. This report summarizes the pre-clinical pharmacology studies for crizotinib in the EML4-Alk positive tumor models to assess the pharmacodynamic inhibition of EML4-ALK, antitumor efficacy, PKPD relationships and antitumor mechanism of action in vitro and in vivo. Crizotinib potently inhibited the catalytic activity of ALK kinase (Ki = 0.5 nM) and the autophosphorylation of cellular EML4-ALK V1, V2, V3a and V3b with IC 50 values ranging from 26–74 nM. Crizotinib also inhibited cell proliferation and induced apoptosis in NCI-H3122 human NSCLC cells harboring EML4-ALK V1 fusion with IC 50s of 63 nM and 110 nM respectively. In the EML4-ALK V3a/b positive NCI-H2228 human NSCLC cells, crizotinib completely inhibited ALK phosphorylation (IC 50 = 74 nM) but only partial inhibited cell proliferation and survival. This observation is consistent with the notion that only a portion of H2228 cells are EML4-ALK positive by Exon Array analysis. Crizotinib demonstrated marked tumor growth inhibition and regression in H3122 xenograft model at well tolerated dose levels. The antitumor efficacy of crizotinib was dose dependent and demonstrated a strong correlation to pharmacodynamic inhibition of ALK phosphorylation in vivo. PKPD modeling was conducted to understand the relationships between crizotinib plasma concentration to ALK target inhibition (EC 50 = 19 nM) and antitumor efficacy (EC 50 = 23 nM). Collectively, the results from H3122 model indicated that significant inhibition of EML4-ALK during the entire treatment period was necessary to achieve robust antitumor efficacy. Additional in vivo studies with crizotinib demonstrated dose dependent inhibition of EML4-ALK mediated signal transduction (STAT3, AKT, Erk, PLCγ, c-Myc), tumor cell proliferation (Ki67) and induction of apoptosis (caspase-3). Crizotinib also dose dependently inhibited total EML4-ALK levels in H3122 tumors indicating an additional antitumor mechanism of action by crizotinib in these tumors. Furthermore, a dose dependent increase in phospho-EGFR levels was observed after 4 days of drug treatment in H3122 model, indicating a compensation mechanism of “oncogene switching” in tumor cell signaling, and a potential resistance mechanism that may compromise “patient” responses to crizotinib treatment in these tumors. In conclusion, crizotinib was shown to be a potent inhibitor of EML4-ALK. It demonstrated marked antitumor efficacy in EML4-ALK dependent human NSCLC tumors in vitro and in vivo. Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 102nd Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2011 Apr 2-6; Orlando, FL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2011;71(8 Suppl):Abstract nr LB-390. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2011-LB-390