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American Association for Cancer Research, Clinical Cancer Research, 1(26), p. 35-45, 2020

DOI: 10.1158/1078-0432.ccr-19-2023

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Randomized Phase 0/I Trial of the Mitochondrial Inhibitor ME-344 or Placebo Added to Bevacizumab in Early HER2-Negative Breast Cancer

This paper was not found in any repository, but could be made available legally by the author.
This paper was not found in any repository, but could be made available legally by the author.

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Abstract

Abstract Purpose: We previously demonstrated that mitochondrial inhibitors' efficacy was restricted to a metabolic context in which mitochondrial respiration was the predominant energy source, a situation achievable by inducing vascular normalization/hypoxia correction with antiangiogenics. Vascular normalization can be tracked with 2[18F]fluoro-2-deoxy-d-glucose (FDG)-PET. We tested the efficacy of the mitochondrial inhibitor ME-344 or placebo added to bevacizumab in early breast cancer. Patients and Methods: Treatment-naïve HER2-negative patients with T > 1 cm (any N) underwent a breast-centered 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG)-PET (day 1) and received a single dose of bevacizumab (15 mg/kg), followed by a second FDG-PET (day 8). Patients were then randomized (1:1) to Arm A (ME-344 10 mg/kg intravenous on days 8, 15, and 21) or Arm B (placebo). Tumors were biopsied on days 0 and 29. Succinate dehydrogenase enzyme histochemistry (SDH-EHC), confocal microscopy of vessel architecture, and HIF1α staining were performed in pre- and posttreatment biopsies to assess the pharmacodynamics, vessel normalization, and tissue re-oxygenation by bevacizumab, respectively. Results: ME-344 displayed significant biological activity versus placebo: compared with a 186% increase in Arm B, Ki67 decreased by 23.4% from days 0 to 28 in Arm A (P < 0.001) (N = 42 patients). FDG-PET predicted vascular normalization in about one-third of the patients in each arm, which was confirmed using confocal microscopy and HIF1α staining. In the subgroup with vascular normalization, ME-344 induced a Ki67 decrease of 33.4% (placebo: 11.8 increase). SDH-EHC suggested on-target effects of ME-344. Conclusions: ME-344 has significant biological antitumor activity in HER2-negative breast cancer, particularly after induction of vascular normalization and tissue reoxygenation with bevacizumab.