Targeting Tumor Cells Overexpressing the Human Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor 3 with Potent Drug Conjugates Based on Affibody MoleculesShow others and affiliations
2022 (English)In: Biomedicines, E-ISSN 2227-9059, Vol. 10, no 6, article id 1293Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]
Increasing evidence suggests that therapy targeting the human epidermal growth factor receptor 3 (HER3) could be a viable route for targeted cancer therapy. Here, we studied a novel drug conjugate, ZHER3-ABD-mcDM1, consisting of a HER3-targeting affibody molecule, coupled to the cytotoxic tubulin polymerization inhibitor DM1, and an albumin-binding domain for in vivo half-life extension. ZHER3-ABD-mcDM1 showed a strong affinity to the extracellular domain of HER3 (K-D 6 nM), and an even stronger affinity (KD 0.2 nM) to the HER3-overexpressing pancreatic carcinoma cell line, BxPC-3. The drug conjugate showed a potent cytotoxic effect on BxPC-3 cells with an IC50 value of 7 nM. Evaluation of a radiolabeled version, [99mTc]Tc-ZHER3-ABD-mcDM1, showed a relatively high rate of internalization, with a 27% internalized fraction after 8 h. Further in vivo evaluation showed that it could target BxPC-3 (pancreatic carcinoma) and DU145 (prostate carcinoma) xenografts in mice, with an uptake peaking at 6.3 +/- 0.4% IA/g at 6 h post-injection for the BxPC-3 xenografts. The general biodistribution showed uptake in the liver, lung, salivary gland, stomach, and small intestine, organs known to express murine ErbB3 naturally. The results from the study show that ZHER3-ABD-mcDM1 is a highly potent and selective drug conjugate with the ability to specifically target HER3 overexpressing cells. Further pre-clinical and clinical development is discussed.
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
MDPI AG , 2022. Vol. 10, no 6, article id 1293
Keywords [en]
affibody molecule, human epidermal growth factor receptor 3 (HER3), BxPC-3, emtansine, DM1, albumin binding domain, affibody drug conjugate (AffiDC)
National Category
Cancer and Oncology Biomedical Laboratory Science/Technology
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:kth:diva-315706DOI: 10.3390/biomedicines10061293ISI: 000819059100001PubMedID: 35740315Scopus ID: 2-s2.0-85134021651OAI: oai:DiVA.org:kth-315706DiVA, id: diva2:1683697
Note
Not duplicate with DiVA 1636211
QC 20220718
2022-07-182022-07-182023-04-11Bibliographically approved