The Multi-Kinase Inhibitor GZD824 (Olverembatinib) Shows Pre-Clinical Efficacy in Endometrial Cancer.

Objective: Endometrial cancer is one of the few cancers for which mortality is still increasing. A lack of treatment options remains a major challenge, particularly for some subtypes of the disease. GZD824, also known as olverembatinib, is a multi-kinase inhibitor previously investigated in clinical trials for chronic myeloid leukaemia and Ph+ acute lymphoblastic leukaemia as a BCR-ABL inhibitor. This study aimed to investigate the pre-clinical efficacy of GZD824 for the treatment of EC.

Methods: Here, we undertook pre-clinical evaluation of GZD824 in seven endometrial cancer cell lines (HEC-1-A, HEC-1-B, MFE296, RL95-2, Ishikawa, KLE and ARK-1), one normal immortalised endometrium derived cell line (E6E7hTERT) and primary mesothelial and fibroblast cells isolated from normal omentum samples.

Results: GZD824 inhibited the proliferation of all endometrial cancer cell lines, which were significantly more sensitive to GZD824 compared to normal cells (p = 0.030). GZD824 significantly inhibited migration in Ishikawa (endometrioid) and ARK1 (serous) endometrial cancer cell lines and significantly inhibited invasion in the ARK1 cells. Whole transcriptome regulation following two doses (0.1 and 1 μM) of GZD824 in Ishikawa and ARK1 cells was investigated via RNA-seq, and key components of enriched pathways were investigated at the translational level. Key pathways altered included ROR1/Wnt, GCN2-ATF4, epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT) and PI3K-AKT.

Conclusion: Together, these studies support further investigation of GZD824 as a potential therapeutic agent in endometrial cancer, potentially in combination with immune checkpoint inhibitors.