Abstract 3133: A novel bispecific antibody-drug conjugate targeting HER2 and Trop-2 displays potent antitumor activity in a variety of tumor models with promising preclinical characteristics

Abstract

Abstract Antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) have exhibited considerable advancements in cancer therapy, though their efficacy is often confined to specific patient subsets or results in modest clinical responses due to low and heterogenous expression of drug targets in tumors. Targeting more than one tumor-associated antigens (TAAs) represents a new strategy to broaden treatment applicability and minimize on-target toxicity of ADC. Our analysis of co-expression of HER2 and Trop-2, two clinically validated ADC targets, in tumors of various histological malignancies manifests the great potential for an ADC simultaneously targeting these two antigens. We describe here a novel bispecific ADC (BIO-201) designed to co-target HER2 and Trop-2. This compound comprises a bispecific anti-HER2/Trop-2 antibody conjugated with a novel topoisomerase I inhibitor via a cleavable linker. BIO-201 demonstrates increased or comparable cell binding and internalization compared to parental antibodies. In in vitro cytotoxicity assays, BIO-201 effectively kills cancer cells with an IC50 in the sub nM range, irrespective of whether they co-express HER2 and Trop-2 or express only one antigen. Co-culture studies reveal that BIO-201 possesses a good bystander killing effect on drug target-negative tumor cells. In vivo studies further demonstrate the superior anti-tumor activity of BIO-201 in various tumor xenograft models, including those expressing different levels of HER2 and/or Trop-2, as well as models resistant to HER-2-targeting therapies. Moreover, BIO-201 exhibits favorable plasma stability, preclinical pharmacokinetics (PK), and toxicity profiles. In conclusion, these findings suggest that the anti-HER2/Trop-2 bispecific ADC, BIO-201, holds significant promise as an effective therapy for a diverse range of cancers, especially those expressing heterogenous levels of HER2 or Trop-2, and has the potential to benefit a broad patient population. Citation Format: Haihong (Helen) Zhong, Yan Xiong, Han Huang, Yuming Pan, Na Wang, Bin Sun, Shen Liu, Wei Yuan, Dingguo Liu, Jan Fang, Haifeng Bao. A novel bispecific antibody-drug conjugate targeting HER2 and Trop-2 displays potent antitumor activity in a variety of tumor models with promising preclinical characteristics [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2024; Part 1 (Regular Abstracts); 2024 Apr 5-10; San Diego, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2024;84(6_Suppl):Abstract nr 3133.