Tabassom Mohajershojai: Enhancing Cancer Treatment through Combination Therapies

Abstract

Cancer, a complex disease marked by uncontrolled cell growth, is typically treated with surgery, chemotherapy, radiation therapy and immunotherapy, which can induce significant side effects by affecting healthy tissues. Targeted radionuclide therapy (TRT), where cancer-targeting molecules are equipped with radionuclides to enable cancer-specific radiotherapy, shows promise for treating advanced cancers by addressing both metastatic relapse and heterogeneous tumors. Combining TRT with targeted therapies offers a promising shift towards more effective and less toxic treatments. This thesis focuses on synergistically enhancing the therapeutic efficacy of TRT or chemotherapy through combination strategies with novel drugs that modulate DNA damage and/or interact with the immune system.

In Paper I, we investigated the combination treatment of the chemotherapy drug cisplatin with the heat shock protein 90 (HSP90) inhibitor onalespib in vitro, using ovarian and head and neck cancer cells. Our findings demonstrated that onalespib enhances the therapeutic effects of cisplatin, reducing colony formation and migration, increasing apoptosis, and decreasing DNA damage response (DDR). Key proteins such as ATM, DNA-PKcs, and γH2AX were shown to play crucial roles in the therapeutic efficacy of the combination treatments.

In Papers II and III, we characterized the synergy between the novel radioconjugate, 177Lu-DOTA-M5A, and onalespib in gastrointestinal cancer models in vitro and in vivo. While 177Lu-DOTA-M5A exhibited significant cellular uptake and therapeutic efficacy as monotherapy in 3D tumor spheroids and xenografts. The combination exhibited the most pronounced synergistic growth inhibitory effects in both settings with no adverse effects observed in vivo. PARP1 was identified as playing a pivotal role in the therapeutic outcomes.

In Paper IV, we explored combining 177Lu-DOTA-M5A with PD-1 immune checkpoint blockade in an immunocompetent transgenic mouse model. The radioconjugate demonstrated high tumor uptake and potent therapeutic effects as monotherapy without depleting immune cells within the tumor microenvironment, while PD-1 blockade further enhanced its efficacy by prolonging survival and suppressing tumor growth. CD8+ T cells and pro-inflammatory macrophages (M1) were critical for these therapeutic effects and no myelotoxicity was observed with any treatments.

In conclusion, we have investigated various combination treatment approaches aimed at enhancing therapeutic efficacy while mitigating side effects and drug resistance. We have evaluated the feasibility, toxicity, and benefits of these combinations in preclinical settings with promising results, underscoring the potential of integrating TRT into combination therapy.

Further investigation is warranted as an increasing number of TRT and combination therapies are entering clinical trials.