scholarly journals A Conjugate Based on Anti-HER2 Diaffibody and Auristatin E Targets HER2-Positive Cancer Cells

2017 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 401 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Serwotka-Suszczak ◽  
Alicja Sochaj-Gregorczyk ◽  
Jerzy Pieczykolan ◽  
Daniel Krowarsch ◽  
Filip Jelen ◽  
...  

Antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) have recently emerged as efficient and selective cancer treatment therapeutics. Currently, alternative forms of drug carriers that can replace monoclonal antibodies are under intensive investigation. Here, a cytotoxic conjugate of an anti-HER2 (Human Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor 2) diaffibody with monomethyl-auristatin E (MMAE) is proposed as a potential anticancer therapeutic. The anti-HER2 diaffibody was based on the ZHER2:4 affibody amino acid sequence. The anti-HER2 diaffibody has been expressed as a His-tagged protein in E. coli and purified by Ni-nitrilotriacetyl (Ni-NTA) agarose chromatography. The molecule was properly folded, and the high affinity and specificity of its interaction with HER2 was confirmed by surface plasmon resonance (SPR) and flow cytometry, respectively. The (ZHER2:4)2DCS-MMAE conjugate was obtained by coupling the maleimide group linked with MMAE to cysteines, which were introduced in a drug conjugation sequence (DCS). Cytotoxicity of the conjugate was evaluated using the 3-(4,5-dimethyl-2-thiazolyl)-2,5-diphenyl-2-H-tetrazolium bromide MTT assay and the xCELLigence Real-Time Cell Analyzer. Our experiments demonstrated that the conjugate delivered auristatin E specifically to HER2-positive tumor cells, which finally led to their death. These results indicate that the cytotoxic diaffibody conjugate is a highly potent molecule for the treatment of various types of cancer overexpressing HER2 receptors.

Cancers ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 400 ◽  
Author(s):  
Seiichiro Mitani ◽  
Hisato Kawakami

Trastuzumab, a monoclonal antibody to human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2), has improved survival in patients with HER2-positive advanced gastric or gastroesophageal junction cancer (AGC). The inevitable development of resistance to trastuzumab remains a problem, however, with several treatment strategies that have proven effective in breast cancer having failed to show clinical benefit in AGC. In this review, we summarize the mechanisms underlying resistance to HER2-targeted therapy and outline past and current challenges in the treatment of HER2-positive AGC refractory to trastuzumab. We further describe novel agents such as HER2 antibody–drug conjugates that are under development and have shown promising antitumor activity in early studies.


2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ilana Schlam ◽  
Sandra M. Swain

AbstractHuman epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) positive breast cancer accounts for 20–25% of all breast cancers. Multiple HER2-targeted therapies have been developed over the last few years, including the tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKI) lapatinib, neratinib, tucatinib, and pyrotinib. These drugs target HER2 and other receptors of the epidermal growth factor receptor family, therefore each has unique efficacy and adverse event profile. HER2-directed TKIs have been studied in the early stage and advanced settings and have shown promising responses. There is increasing interest in utilizing these drugs in combination with chemotherapy and /or other HER2-directed agents in patients with central nervous system involvement, TKIs have shown to be effective in this setting for which treatment options have been previously limited and the prognosis remains poor. The aim of this review is to summarize currently approved TKIs for HER2+ breast, key clinical trials, and their use in current clinical practice.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 ◽  
pp. 175883592110090
Author(s):  
Hong-Fei Gao ◽  
Zhiyong Wu ◽  
Ying Lin ◽  
Xiang-Yang Song ◽  
Yin Cao ◽  
...  

Background: Although dual blockade HER2-based neoadjuvant chemotherapy is associated with excellent outcomes for human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2)-positive breast cancer, pertuzumab is not available to all patients due to cost. The optimal neoadjuvant chemotherapy for HER2-positive breast cancer in the presence of a single HER2 blockade is unknown. This study aimed to compare the efficacy and safety of epirubicin/cyclophosphamide followed by docetaxel/trastuzumab (EC-TH) with docetaxel/carboplatin/trastuzumab (TCH) neoadjuvant setting for HER2-positive breast cancer under the single HER2 blockade. Methods: Patients with stage II-IIIC HER2-positive breast cancer were randomly assigned to either eight cycles of EC-TH every 3 weeks during all chemotherapy cycles, or six cycles of TCH every 3 weeks. The primary endpoint was pathological complete response (pCR) (defined as the absence of invasive tumor cells in breast and axilla, ypT0/is ypN0). Results: From May 2017 to November 2019, 140 patients were randomly assigned, and 135 patients were ultimately found evaluable for the primary endpoint. The pCR was recorded in 25 of 67 patients [37.3%; 95% confidence interval (CI), 25.8–50.0] in the EC-TH group and in 38 of 68 patients (55.9%, 95% CI, 43.3–67.9) in the TCH group ( p = 0.032). The most common adverse events (AEs) were neutropenia in 24 of 67 (35.8%) patients in the EC-TH group versus 27 of 68 (39.7%) in the TCH group ( p = 0.642), anemia in 33 of 67 (49.3%) patients in the EC-TH group versus 34 of 68 (50.0%) in the TCH group ( p = 0.931), and thrombocytopenia in five of 67 (7.5%) patients in the EC-TH group versus 17 of 68 (25.0%) in the TCH group ( p = 0.006). Conclusion: For patients receiving the single HER2 blockade trastuzumab for HER2-positive breast cancer, TCH regimen might be a preferred neoadjuvant therapy. Trial registration: This trial was registered with ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT03140553) on 2 May 2017.


Cancers ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (14) ◽  
pp. 3427
Author(s):  
Reyhaneh Farghadani ◽  
Rakesh Naidu

Breast cancer is the most frequently diagnosed cancer and the leading cause of cancer death among women worldwide. Despite the overall successes in breast cancer therapy, hormone-independent HER2 negative breast cancer, also known as triple negative breast cancer (TNBC), lacking estrogens and progesterone receptors and with an excessive expression of human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2), along with the hormone-independent HER2 positive subtype, still remain major challenges in breast cancer treatment. Due to their poor prognoses, aggressive phenotype, and highly metastasis features, new alternative therapies have become an urgent clinical need. One of the most noteworthy phytochemicals, curcumin, has attracted enormous attention as a promising drug candidate in breast cancer prevention and treatment due to its multi-targeting effect. Curcumin interrupts major stages of tumorigenesis including cell proliferation, survival, angiogenesis, and metastasis in hormone-independent breast cancer through the modulation of multiple signaling pathways. The current review has highlighted the anticancer activity of curcumin in hormone-independent breast cancer via focusing on its impact on key signaling pathways including the PI3K/Akt/mTOR pathway, JAK/STAT pathway, MAPK pathway, NF-ĸB pathway, p53 pathway, and Wnt/β-catenin, as well as apoptotic and cell cycle pathways. Besides, its therapeutic implications in clinical trials are here presented.


Cancers ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (16) ◽  
pp. 3939
Author(s):  
Tianqi Xu ◽  
Anzhelika Vorobyeva ◽  
Alexey Schulga ◽  
Elena Konovalova ◽  
Olga Vorontsova ◽  
...  

Efficient treatment of disseminated ovarian cancer (OC) is challenging due to its heterogeneity and chemoresistance. Overexpression of human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) and epithelial cell adhesion molecule (EpCAM) in approx. 30% and 70% of ovarian cancers, respectively, allows for co-targeted treatment. The clinical efficacy of the monoclonal antibody trastuzumab in patients with HER2-positive breast, gastric and gastroesophageal cancers makes it readily available as the HER2-targeting component. As the EpCAM-targeting component, we investigated the designed ankyrin repeat protein (DARPin) Ec1 fused to a truncated variant of Pseudomonas exotoxin A with reduced immunogenicity and low general toxicity (LoPE). Ec1-LoPE was radiolabeled, evaluated in ovarian cancer cells in vitro and its biodistribution and tumor-targeting properties were studied in vivo. The therapeutic efficacy of Ec1-LoPE alone and in combination with trastuzumab was studied in mice bearing EpCAM- and HER2-expressing SKOV3 xenografts. SPECT/CT imaging enabled visualization of EpCAM and HER2 expression in the tumors. Co-treatment using Ec1-LoPE and trastuzumab was more effective at reducing tumor growth and prolonged the median survival of mice compared with mice in the control and monotherapy groups. Repeated administration of Ec1-LoPE was well tolerated without signs of hepatic or kidney toxicity. Co-treatment with trastuzumab and Ec1-LoPE might be a potential therapeutic strategy for HER2- and EpCAM-positive OC.


BMJ Open ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (11) ◽  
pp. e035802
Author(s):  
Qiancheng Hu ◽  
Xin Wang ◽  
Ye Chen ◽  
Xiaofen Li ◽  
Ting Luo ◽  
...  

IntroductionControversy regarding optimum duration of trastuzumab treatment remains in patients with human epidermal growth factor receptor-2 (HER2) positive early breast cancer. The objective of applying network meta-analysis (NMA) is to integrate existing evidence based on direct and indirect comparisons of efficacy and safety, and then to determine the duration of trastuzumab treatments with the greatest impact on therapeutic outcomes in HER2-positive early breast cancers.Methods and analysisElectronic searching of trastuzumab treatments for early breast cancer by titles and abstracts will be conducted for the period from inception to 16 June 2019 in PubMed, Cochrane Library, Embase and ClinicalTrils.gov, as well as the annual meetings of San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium (SABCS), European Society of Medical Oncology (ESMO) and American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) online archives. The outcomes of interest are overall survival, disease-free survival, acceptability, cardiotoxicities and grade 3 to 4 non-haematological toxicities. Two independent reviewers will screen and extract eligible data based on the inclusion and exclusion criteria, and then assess the risk of bias and evidence quality of individual studies using Cochrane Collaboration’s tool and Grades of Recommendation, Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE). The heterogeneity, transitivity and inconsistency of NMA will be evaluated. In addition, we will perform subgroup and sensitivity analyses to assess the robustness and reliability of findings in our NMA.Ethics and disseminationEthics approval is not required for our NMA. Findings from our NMA will be submitted as peer-reviewed journal manuscripts and international conference reports.Trial registration numberCRD42019139109.


2021 ◽  
pp. 107815522199163
Author(s):  
Homa Seyedmirzaei ◽  
Mahsa Keshavarz-Fathi ◽  
Sepideh Razi ◽  
Masoumeh Gity ◽  
Nima Rezaei

Objective Breast cancer is responsible for most of the cancer-induced deaths in women around the world. The current review will discuss different approaches of targeting HER2, an epidermal growth factor overexpressed in 30% of breast cancer cases. Data sources We conducted a search on Pubmed and Scopus databases to find studies relevant to HER2+ breast cancers and targeting HER2 as means of immunotherapy. Out of 1043 articles, 105 studies were included in this review. Data summary As well as the introduction of HER2 and breast cancer subtypes, we discussed various aspects of HER2-targeting immunotherapy including monoclonal antibodies, Antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs), Chimeric Antigen Receptor (CAR) T-cells and vaccines. Conclusions Despite several ways of controlling breast cancer, the need to investigate new drugs and approaches seems to be much significant as this cancer still has a heavy burden on people’s health and survival.


BMC Cancer ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Angeliki Andrikopoulou ◽  
Kleoniki Apostolidou ◽  
Spyridoula Chatzinikolaou ◽  
Garyfalia Bletsa ◽  
Eleni Zografos ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Over than one third (28–58%) of pregnancy-associated breast cancer (PABC) cases are characterized by positive epidermal growth factor receptor 2-positive (HER2) expression. Trastuzumab anti-HER2 monoclonal antibody is still the benchmark treatment of HER2-positive breast tumors. However, FDA has categorized Trastuzumab as a category D drug for pregnant patients with breast cancer. This systemic review aims to synthesize all currently available data of trastuzumab administration during pregnancy and provide an updated view of the effect of trastuzumab on fetal and maternal outcome. Methods Eligible articles were identified by a search of MEDLINE bibliographic database and ClinicalTrials.gov for the period up to 01/09/2020; The algorithm consisted of a predefined combination of the words “breast”, “cancer”, “trastuzumab” and “pregnancy”. This study was performed in accordance with the PRISMA guidelines. Results A total of 28 eligible studies were identified (30 patients, 32 fetuses). In more than half of cases, trastuzumab was administered in the metastatic setting. The mean duration of trastuzumab administration during gestation was 15.7 weeks (SD: 10.8; median: 17.5; range: 1–32). Oligohydramnios or anhydramnios was the most common (58.1%) adverse event reported in all cases. There was a statistically significant decrease in oligohydramnios/anhydramnios incidence in patients receiving trastuzumab only during the first trimester (P = 0.026, Fisher’s exact test). In 43.3% of cases a completely healthy neonate was born. 41.7% of fetuses exposed to trastuzumab during the second and/or third trimester were born completely healthy versus 75.0% of fetuses exposed exclusively in the first trimester. All mothers were alive at a median follow-up of 47.0 months (ranging between 9 and 100 months). Of note, there were three cases (10%) of cardiotoxicity and decreased ejection fraction during pregnancy. Conclusions Overall, treatment with trastuzumab should be postponed until after delivery, otherwise pregnancy should be closely monitored.


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