In Vivo Efficacy of Peptide-Derived B Cell Receptor (BCR) Targeted Therapy In a Disseminated Burkitt′s Lymphoma Xenograft Modell

Abstract 3924

Targeted therapies in terms of monoclonal antibodies have become standard in the treatment of various lymphomas. Albeit being more specific than conventional therapy, the used antibodies target surface receptors both present on polyclonal and monoclonal hematopoietic cells. Due to its specificity for the malignant B-cell clone the B-cell receptor (BCR) is an ideal therapeutic target in lymphoma therapy. Moreover, using peptides has several advantages over whole antibodies: reduced immunogenicity, better epitope mimicry and tissue penetration, easier synthesis and more favourable pharmacokinetics (no uptake into the reticulo-endothelial system). Peptides mimicking the epitope recognized by lymphoma BCRs have therefore been praised as promising therapeutic tools for years (Lam, West J Med., 1993) but a proof-of-concept has only been published recently in mice bearing subcutaneous A20 lymphoma (Palmieri et al., Blood, 2010).

In the current study, we have established a human cell line-derived disseminated Burkitt′s lymphoma model (SUP-B8) in NOD/SCID mice by intravenous injection. Our active principle was the tetramerized BCR binding peptide YSFEDLYRRGGK-biotin (termed T-peptide, Renschler et al., PNAS, 1994) which was applied intravenously on day (d) 12, 14, 16 and 19 after injection of the tumor cells, respectively. The therapeutic efficacy was evaluated in comparison to several control groups (tetramerized control peptide (termed C-peptide, RDYSYERLFGGK-biotin), vehicle (0.8% ACN in water, 200μl/d) and untreated animals). Tumor cell engraftment was monitored via daily surveillance of disease symptoms, FACS (anti-human lambda, CD19, anti-murine CD45) and fluorescence-based in vivo imaging system (FI, Kodak FX, Alexa750 labeled anti-human CD45) on days 12 and 21.

SUP-B8 engrafted predominantly in the bone marrow (BM, take rate = 100%) and marrow infiltration increased in untreated mice between start and end of therapy from 1 ± 0.4% (d 12) to 39.8 ± 9.4% (d 21). Other sites of engraftment were subcutis (38%) and spleen (8%). The examined compounds were well tolerated in tumor-bearing mice, no acute toxicity could be observed and maximal body weight loss was below 15%. Treatment of xenograft mice with the tetramerized BCR-binding peptide significantly reduced bone marrow infiltration compared to controls (T-peptide 8.1 ± 4.6%, C-peptide: 32.8 ± 8%, p=0.037, vehicle: 30.5 ± 7.9%, p=0.029). Considering the short half-life of uncoupled peptides and the injection schedule every second day, this is a remarkable reduction. For further optimization of this promising therapeutic approach we plan to couple peptides to effector molecules via acid labile linkers; this is based on the evidence that confocal imaging of Burkitt lymphoma cell lines showed the processing of specific BCR binding peptides in acidic organelles of the cell.

In summary, we conclude that BCR targeted peptide-based therapy is a feasible method with remarkable therapeutic results in vivo and future studies will focus on coupling specific peptides to appropriate effector molecules or combinational therapeutic approaches using conventional chemotherapeutics.