Abstract 1082: Effect of doublet treatment versus single-agent treatment in gastric cancers with/without MET amplification or a MET exon 14 skipping mutation

Abstract

Abstract Although conventional combination chemotherapy for advanced gastric cancer (GC) is associated with increased survival, it has major adverse effects, which necessitate the development of more effective, less toxic treatments. Combinations of multiple anti-cancer drugs, such as paclitaxel plus ramucirumab, have recently been used for the second-line treatment of advanced GC. This study evaluated the MET copy number variation (CNV), mutations, and gene and protein expression in human GC cells and the differential susceptibility of GC cells to single (tepotinib, ramucirumab, or paclitaxel) or doublet (tepotinib plus paclitaxel or ramucirumab plus paclitaxel) regimens. Compared to ramucirumab plus paclitaxel, tepotinib plus paclitaxel inhibited the growth of GC cells with a MET exon 14 skipping mutation and those without MET amplification but with phosphorylated MET in a dose-dependent manner with a concomitant induction of cell death. Tepotinib plus paclitaxel and ramucirumab plus paclitaxel similarly inhibited the growth of GC cells without a MET amplification or MET phosphorylation in a dose-dependent manner without inducing cell death. However, tepotinib alone or tepotinib plus ramucirumab was more effective in c-MET-positive GC cells (CNV > 30) than ramucirumab alone, paclitaxel alone, or ramucirumab plus paclitaxel. Our in vitro findings suggest that, compared to ramucirumab plus paclitaxel, tepotinib plus paclitaxel inhibits the growth of c-MET-positive GC cells, GC cells without a MET amplification but with phosphorylated MET, and those with MET mutations. Tepotinib alone was as effective as tepotinib plus paclitaxel in c-MET-positive GC cells. Clinical studies are required to confirm the therapeutic effects of these regimens. Citation Format: Dae Young Zang, sung-hwa sohn, Hee Jung Sul, Bum Jun Kim. Effect of doublet treatment versus single-agent treatment in gastric cancers with/without MET amplification or a MET exon 14 skipping mutation [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2023; Part 1 (Regular and Invited Abstracts); 2023 Apr 14-19; Orlando, FL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2023;83(7_Suppl):Abstract nr 1082.