Abstract 1790: Evaluation of UCK2 protein expression as a potential predictive biomarker of RX-3117

Abstract

Abstract Background: A novel, orally bioavailable nucleoside analogue, RX-3117, is a prodrug activated intracellularly by Uridine Cytidine Kinase 2 (UCK2) that is thought to be expressed predominantly in tumor tissue. RX-3117 is currently being evaluated in a Phase Ib/IIa multi-center, open-label clinical study in patients with advanced pancreatic and bladder cancer. In this study, we aimed to determine the relation between UCK2 tissue protein expression and the efficacy of RX-3117 in mice xenograft models and also UCK2 protein expression in a panel of human cancer tissues relative to normal tissue. Methods: The UCK2 protein expression in tumor tissues was analyzed by immunoblotting using clone 22-1 rabbit monoclonal antibody. The validated procedure for the immunohistochemistry (IHC) of UCK2 with clone 22-1 was performed in a panel of human formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded (FFPE) cancer and normal tissues. Results: The immunoblotting protein level of UCK2 normalized to β-actin and corresponding tumor growth inhibition (oral RX-3117 dose of 500mg/kg, TIWK) were 57 and 67% in MiaPaCa2, 30 and -5% in BxPC3, 199 and 92% in Colo-205, 21 and 90% in Caki-1, 2 and 39% in A549, and 146 and 79% in H460, respectively. This data indicates an anti-tumor efficacy trend in a UCK2-dependent manner. The IHC of UCK2 showed that positive staining of UCK2 in cancer tissues was observed in 20/20 bladder cancer tissues (100% frequency), 19/20 CRC tissues (95% frequency), 18/20 NSCLC tissues (90% frequency), and 19/20 pancreatic cancer tissues (95% frequency). Average H-Scores of UCK2 in cancer tissues vs. normal tissues were 104 vs. 9 in lung, 97 vs. 20 in bladder, 67 vs. 41 in pancreas and 39 vs. 21 in colon, respectively. Conclusions: The current data showed a correlation trend between UCK2 protein expression level and degree of antitumor activity of RX-3117 in xenograft models. It also supports a higher UCK2 protein expression level in human cancer tissues compared to their normal tissues. This suggests that RX-3117 activity may be specific to tumor tissue, and quantification of UCK2 expression in human cancer tissues may be useful as a predictive biomarker to select patients for their sensitivity to RX-3117 in future clinical studies. Citation Format: Young Bok B. Lee, Deog J. Kim, Christina George, Chang-ho Ahn, Julie Frank, Reza Mazhari, Lisa M. Dauffenbach, Eric P. Olsen. Evaluation of UCK2 protein expression as a potential predictive biomarker of RX-3117 [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2017; 2017 Apr 1-5; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2017;77(13 Suppl):Abstract nr 1790. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2017-1790