Abstract
Trastuzumab (Herceptin®) is currently used as a treatment for patients whose breast tumors overexpress HER2/ErbB2. Trastuzumab-DM1 (T-DM1, trastuzumab emtansine) is designed to combine the clinical benefits of trastuzumab with a potent microtubule-disrupting drug, DM1 (a maytansine derivative). Currently T-DM1 is being tested in multiple clinical trials. The mechanisms of action for trastuzumab include inhibition of PI3K/AKT signaling pathway, inhibition of HER-2 shedding and Fcγ receptor mediated engagement of immune cells, which may result in antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity (ADCC). Here we report that T-DM1 retains the mechanisms of action of unconjugated trastuzumab and is active against lapatinib resistant cell lines and tumors.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Perou CM, Sorlie T, Eisen MB et al (2000) Molecular portraits of human breast tumours. Nature 406:747–752
Slamon DJ, Clark GM, Wong SG, Levin WJ, Ullrich A, McGuire WL (1987) Human breast cancer: correlation of relapse and survival with amplification of the HER-2/neu oncogene. Science 235:177–182
Slamon DJ, Godolphin W, Jones LA et al (1989) Studies of the HER-2/neu proto-oncogene in human breast and ovarian cancer. Science 244:707–712
Carter P, Presta L, Gorman CM et al (1992) Humanization of an anti-p185HER2 antibody for human cancer therapy. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 89:4285–4289
Cho HS, Mason K, Ramyar KX et al (2003) Structure of the extracellular region of HER2 alone and in complex with the Herceptin Fab. Nature 421:756–760
Piccart-Gebhart MJ, Procter M, Leyland-Jones B et al (2005) Trastuzumab after adjuvant chemotherapy in HER2-positive breast cancer. N Engl J Med 353:1659–1672
Romond EH, Perez EA, Bryant J et al (2005) Trastuzumab plus adjuvant chemotherapy for operable HER2-positive breast cancer. N Engl J Med 353:1673–1684
Slamon DJ, Leyland-Jones B, Shak S et al (2001) Use of chemotherapy plus a monoclonal antibody against HER2 for metastatic breast cancer that overexpresses HER2. N Engl J Med 344:783–792
Joensuu H, Kellokumpu-Lehtinen PL, Bono P et al (2006) Adjuvant docetaxel or vinorelbine with or without trastuzumab for breast cancer. N Engl J Med 354:809–820
Sliwkowski MX, Lofgren J, Lewis GD, Hotaling TE, Fendly BM, Fox JA (1999) Nonclinical studies addressing the mechanism of action of Herceptin® (Trastuzumab). Semin Oncol 26(Suppl 12):60–70
Junttila TT, Akita RW, Parsons K et al (2009) Ligand-independent HER2/HER3/PI3K complex is disrupted by trastuzumab and is effectively inhibited by the PI3K inhibitor GDC-0941. Cancer Cell 15:429–440
Lewis GD, Figari I, Fendly B et al (1993) Differential responses of human tumor cell lines to anti-p185HER2 monoclonal antibodies. Cancer Immunol Immunother 37:255–263
Clynes RA, Towers TL, Presta LG, Ravetch JV (2000) Inhibitory Fc receptors modulate in vivo cytotoxicity against tumor targets. Nat Med 6:443–446
Geyer CE, Forster J, Lindquist D et al (2006) Lapatinib plus capecitabine for HER2-positive advanced breast cancer. N Engl J Med 355:2733–2743
Lewis Phillips GD, Li G, Dugger DL et al (2008) Targeting HER2-positive breast cancer with trastuzumab-DM1, an antibody-cytotoxic drug conjugate. Cancer Res 68:9280–9290
Chari RV, Martell BA, Gross JL et al (1992) Immunoconjugates containing novel maytansinoids: promising anticancer drugs. Cancer Res 52:127–131
Remillard S, Rebhun LI, Howie GA, Kupchan SM (1975) Antimitotic activity of the potent tumor inhibitor maytansine. Science 189:1002–1005
Issell BF, Crooke ST (1978) Maytansine. Cancer Treat Rev 5:199–207
Austin CD, Wen X, Gazzard L, Nelson C, Scheller RH, Scales SJ (2005) Oxidizing potential of endosomes and lysosomes limits intracellular cleavage of disulfide-based antibody-drug conjugates. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 102:17987–17992
Krop IE, Beeram M, Modi S et al (2010) Phase I study of trastuzumab-DM1, an HER2 antibody-drug conjugate, given every 3 weeks to patients with HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer. J Clin Oncol 28:2698–2704
Kurebayashi J, Otsuki T, Tang CK et al (1999) Isolation and characterization of a new human breast cancer cell line, KPL-4, expressing the Erb B family receptors and interleukin-6. Br J Cancer 79:707–717
Munson PJ, Rodbard D (1980) Ligand: a versatile computerized approach for characterization of ligand-binding systems. Anal Biochem 107:220–239
Idusogie EE, Presta LG, Gazzano-Santoro H et al (2000) Mapping of the C1q binding site on rituxan, a chimeric antibody with a human IgG1 Fc. J Immunol 164:4178–4184
Sias PE, Kotts CE, Vetterlein D, Shepard M, Wong WL (1990) ELISA for quantitation of the extracellular domain of p185HER2 in biological fluids. J Immunol Methods 132:73–80
Finkle D, Quan ZR, Asghari V et al (2004) HER2-targeted therapy reduces incidence and progression of midlife mammary tumors in female murine mammary tumor virus huHER2-transgenic mice. Clin Cancer Res 10:2499–2511
Erickson HK, Park PU, Widdison WC et al (2006) Antibody-maytansinoid conjugates are activated in targeted cancer cells by lysosomal degradation and linker-dependent intracellular processing. Cancer Res 66:4426–4433
Musolino A, Naldi N, Bortesi B et al (2008) Immunoglobulin G fragment C receptor polymorphisms and clinical efficacy of trastuzumab-based therapy in patients with HER-2/neu-positive metastatic breast cancer. J Clin Oncol 26:1789–1796
Shields RL, Namenuk AK, Hong K et al (2001) High resolution mapping of the binding site on human IgG1 for Fc gamma RI, Fc gamma RII, Fc gamma RIII, and FcRn and design of IgG1 variants with improved binding to the Fc gamma R. J Biol Chem 276:6591–6604
Yakes FM, Chinratanalab W, Ritter CA, King W, Seelig S, Arteaga CL (2002) Herceptin-induced inhibition of phosphatidylinositol-3 kinase and Akt Is required for antibody-mediated effects on p27, cyclin D1, and antitumor action. Cancer Res 62:4132–4141
Molina MA, Codony-Servat J, Albanell J, Rojo F, Arribas J, Baselga J (2001) Trastuzumab (herceptin), a humanized anti-Her2 receptor monoclonal antibody, inhibits basal and activated Her2 ectodomain cleavage in breast cancer cells. Cancer Res 61:4744–4749
Eichhorn PJ, Gili M, Scaltriti M et al (2008) Phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase hyperactivation results in lapatinib resistance that is reversed by the mTOR/phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase inhibitor NVP-BEZ235. Cancer Res 68:9221–9230
Nagata Y, Lan KH, Zhou X et al (2004) PTEN activation contributes to tumor inhibition by trastuzumab, and loss of PTEN predicts trastuzumab resistance in patients. Cancer Cell 6:117–127
Hanahan D, Weinberg RA (2000) The hallmarks of cancer. Cell 100:57–70
Smith I, Procter M, Gelber RD et al (2007) 2-year follow-up of trastuzumab after adjuvant chemotherapy in HER2-positive breast cancer: a randomised controlled trial. Lancet 369:29–36
Conflict of interest
All authors are employees of Genentech, Inc.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Junttila, T.T., Li, G., Parsons, K. et al. Trastuzumab-DM1 (T-DM1) retains all the mechanisms of action of trastuzumab and efficiently inhibits growth of lapatinib insensitive breast cancer. Breast Cancer Res Treat 128, 347–356 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10549-010-1090-x
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10549-010-1090-x