2. Academic Validation
  3. Reduction of Circulating Cancer Cells and Metastases in Breast-Cancer Models by a Potent EphA2-Agonistic Peptide-Drug Conjugate

Reduction of Circulating Cancer Cells and Metastases in Breast-Cancer Models by a Potent EphA2-Agonistic Peptide-Drug Conjugate

  • J Med Chem. 2018 Mar 8;61(5):2052-2061. doi: 10.1021/acs.jmedchem.7b01837.
Ahmed F Salem 1,  Si Wang 2,  Sandrine Billet 3,  Jie-Fu Chen 3,  Parima Udompholkul 1,  Luca Gambini 1,  Carlo Baggio 1,  Hsian-Rong Tseng 4,  Edwin M Posadas 3,  Neil A Bhowmick 3 5,  Maurizio Pellecchia 1
Affiliations

Affiliations

  • 1 Division of Biomedical Sciences, School of Medicine , University of California, Riverside , 900 University Avenue , Riverside , California 92521 , United States.
  • 2 Sanford-Burnham-Prebys Medical Discovery Institute , 10901 North Torrey Pines Road , La Jolla , California 92037 , United States.
  • 3 Department of Medicine , Cedars-Sinai Medical Center , 8700 Beverly Boulevard , Los Angeles , California 90048 , United States.
  • 4 Department of Molecular & Medical Pharmacology , University of California, Los Angeles , 570 Westwood Plaza , Los Angeles , California 90095 , United States.
  • 5 Department of Research , Greater Los Angeles Veterans Administration , Los Angeles , California 90073 , United States.
PMID: 29470068 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jmedchem.7b01837
Abstract

EphA2 overexpression has been associated with metastasis in multiple Cancer types, including melanomas and ovarian, prostate, lung, and breast cancers. We have recently proposed the development of peptide-drug conjugates (PDCs) using agonistic EphA2-targeting agents, such as the YSA peptide or its optimized version, 123B9. Although our studies indicated that YSA- and 123B9-drug conjugates can selectively deliver cytotoxic drugs to Cancer cells in vivo, the relatively low cellular agonistic activities (i.e., the high micromolar concentrations required) of the agents toward the EphA2 receptor remained a limiting factor to the further development of these PDCs in the clinic. Here, we report that a dimeric version of 123B9 can induce receptor activation at nanomolar concentrations. Furthermore, we demonstrated that the conjugation of dimeric 123B9 with paclitaxel is very effective at targeting circulating tumor cells and inhibiting lung metastasis in breast-cancer models. These studies represent an important step toward the development of effective EphA2-targeting PDCs.

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