Biological activity of weekly ONC201 in adult recurrent glioblastoma patients

Abstract

Background: ONC201 is a dopamine receptor D2 (DRD2) antagonist that penetrates the blood-brain barrier. ONC201 efficacy has been shown in glioblastoma animal models and is inversely correlated with dopamine receptor DRD5 expression. ONC201 is well tolerated in adult recurrent glioblastoma patients with dosing every 3 weeks and has achieved an objective radiographic response in a patient harboring the H3 K27M mutation.

Methods: In a window-of-opportunity arm, 6 adult subjects initiated ONC201 prior to re-resection of recurrent glioblastoma with intratumoral concentrations as the primary endpoint. An additional 20 adults with recurrent glioblastoma received single agent weekly oral ONC201 at 625 mg, with progression-free survival at 6 months (PFS6) by Response Assessment in Neuro-Oncology (RANO) criteria as the primary endpoint.

Results: The window-of-opportunity arm achieved its primary endpoint with intratumoral ONC201 concentrations at ~24 hours following the second weekly dose ranging from 600 nM to 9.3 µM. Intratumoral pharmacodynamics assessed by activating transcriptional factor 4, death receptor 5, and apoptosis induction relative to archival samples were observed with the strongest intensity and uniformity among patients with low DRD5 tumor expression. The primary endpoint of PFS6 by RANO was not achieved at 5% in this molecularly unselected cohort; however, 1 of 3 patients enrolled with the H3 K27M mutation had a complete regression of enhancing multifocal lesions that remained durable for >1.5 years. No treatment modifications or discontinuations due to toxicity were observed, including in those who underwent re-resection.

Conclusions: Weekly ONC201 is well tolerated, and meaningful intratumoral concentrations were achieved. ONC201 may be biologically active in a subset of adult patients with recurrent glioblastoma.

Keywords: DRD2; DRD5; H3 K27M; ONC201; glioblastoma.

Fig. 1

ONC201 concentrations in tumor tissue homogenates from resected glioblastoma specimens ~24 hours after the second dose of 625 mg oral ONC201.

Fig. 2

Biomarker immunohistochemistry analysis for adult recurrent glioblastoma patient treated with ONC201. Left panel shows DRD2 and DRD5 expression in archival tumor sample. Right panel shows pharmacodynamic biomarkers of ONC201 in archival tumor sample (archival) and in tumor sample resected ~24 hours after the second weekly dose of 625 mg ONC201 (on-treatment). Scale bars: 200 µm.

Fig. 3.

Multifocal tumor regression in patient with recurrent glioblastoma harboring the H3 K27M mutation.