Novel HER2 selective tyrosine kinase inhibitor, TAK-165, inhibits bladder, kidney and androgen-independent prostate cancer in vitro and in vivo

Purpose: TAK-165 is a new potent inhibitor of human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) tyrosine kinase. Several reports suggest HER2 expression in bladder Cancer, renal cell carcinoma (RCC) and androgen-independent prostate Cancer. We therefore investigated the antitumor effect of TAK-165 on these urological Cancer cells.

Materials and methods: Western blot analysis was performed to confirm HER2 expression in cell lines. To study in vitro efficacy, cells were treated with TAK-165 at various concentrations for 72 h and then counted using a hemocytometer. Then the IC50 value was calculated. In the xenograft model, after the tumor reached 200-300 mm3 in volume, mice were orally administered TAK-165 10 mg/kg per day or 20 mg/kg per day or saline for 14 consecutive days (n=6-8).

Results: HER2 expression was observed in HT1376, UMUC3, T24 (bladder), ACHN (kidney), DU145, LNCaP, LN-REC4 (prostate), although the expression level in these cells was weak compared with BT474 (a breast Cancer cell line which expresses HER2 strongly). IC50 was varied from 0.09 to greater than 25 micromol/L in the bladder Cancer cell line. ACHN cells were less sensitive in vitro. The prostate Cancer cell lines studied were all sensitive (IC50 0.053-4.62 micromol/L). In the xenograft model, treatment with TAK-165 significantly inhibited growth of UMUC-3, ACHN, and LN-REC4. The antitumor effect (T/C [%]=growth of TAK-165 treated tumor/average growth of control tumorx100) after 14 days treatment were 22.9%, 26.0%, and 26.5% in UMUC3, ACHN and LN-REC4, respectively.

Conclusions: TAK-165 may be a hopeful new agent for bladder, kidney and androgen-independent prostate Cancer.