A Phase I and Biodistribution Study of Ifabotuzumab, a Humanized Agonistic EphA3-Targeted Antibody, in Patients with Recurrent Glioblastoma.

PURPOSE: To conduct a phase I and biodistribution study of the EphA3 antibody ifabotuzumab and zirconium-89-labeled ifabotuzumab (89Zr-ifabotuzumab) in patients with glioblastoma (GBM).

PATIENTS AND

METHODS

This multisite study was conducted in adults with recurrent GBM whose tumors were measurable according to Response Assessment in Neuro-Oncology (RANO) criteria and whose Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance status was 0 to 1. Patients underwent a biodistribution study with PET scans with 89Zr-ifabotuzumab, followed by three infusions of ifabotuzumab at either 3.5 or 5.25 mg/kg before undergoing a second study with 89Zr-ifabotuzumab PET scans. Resected patient diagnostic tumor samples were collected for multiplex immunofluorescence and spatial transcriptomics analyses.

RESULTS

Twelve patients were recruited, of which six were treated with 3.5 mg/kg and six with 5.25 mg/kg of ifabotuzumab. 89Zr-ifabotuzumab and associated PET scanning were well tolerated, as was ifabotuzumab. There were no objective responses, but one patient had prolonged stable disease. In addition, two patients showed changes in peritumor edema that were suggestive of modulation of tumor vasculature. 89Zr-ifabotuzumab scans showed highly specific tumor uptake in all patients concordant with disease sites on MRI and PET imaging, without evidence of nonspecific binding. Spatial transcriptomics and immunofluorescence analyses of the patient's archival tissue specimens showed that EphA3 was expressed in the tumor microenvironment in all patients and tumor cells with different transcriptional states.

CONCLUSIONS

Targeting EphA3 with ifabotuzumab in patients with GBM is safe and attractive, showing chronologic stable expression across both tumor compartments (particularly in cells with a mesenchymal phenotype) and nontumor compartments (particularly the vascular compartment) with evidence of target modulation.