Prostate cancer is the most commonly diagnosed malignancy in men.
While tumors initially respond to androgen-deprivation therapy, the standard care for advanced or metastatic disease, tumors eventually recur as castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC). Upregulation of the insulin-like growth factor receptor type I (IGF-IR) signaling axis drives growth and progression of prostate cancer by promoting proliferation, survival, and angiogenesis. Ganitumab (formerly AMG 479) is a fully human antibody that inhibits binding of IGF-I and IGF-II to IGF-IR. We evaluated the therapeutic value of ganitumab in several preclinical settings including androgen-dependent prostate cancer, CRPC, and in combination with androgen-deprivation therapy. Ganitumab inhibited IGF-I-induced phosphorylation of the downstream effector AKT and reduced proliferation of multiple androgen-dependent and castration-resistant human prostate cancer cell lines in vitro. Ganitumab inhibited androgen-dependent VCaP xenograft growth and increased tumor-doubling time from 2.3 ± 0.4 weeks to 6.4 ± 0.4 weeks. Ganitumab blocked growth of castration-resistant VCaP xenografts for over 11.5 weeks of treatment. In contrast, ganitumab did not have appreciable effects on the castration-resistant CWR-22Rv1 xenograft model. Ganitumab was most potent against VCaP xenografts when combined with complete androgen-deprivation therapy (castration). Tumor volume was reduced by 72% after 4 weeks of treatment and growth suppression was maintained over 16 weeks of treatment. These data suggest that judicious use of ganitumab particularly in conjunction with androgen-deprivation therapy may be beneficial in the treatment of prostate cancer.
Written by:
Fahrenholtz CD, Beltran PJ, Burnstein KL. Are you the author?
Department of Molecular and Cellular Pharmacology, University of Miami, Miller School of Medicine, 1600 NW 10th Ave, RMSB Rm. 6155 (R-189), Miami, FL 33136. kburnstein@med.miami.edu
Reference: Mol Cancer Ther. 2013 Apr;12(4):394-404.
doi: 10.1158/1535-7163.MCT-12-0648
PubMed Abstract
PMID: 23348048
UroToday.com Investigative Urology Section