Barasertib (AZD1152-HQPA)

Barasertib, previously known as AZD1152-hydroxyquinazoline pyrazol anilide (HQPA), is a potent aurora kinase inhibitor, which is resulted from rapid phosphatase-mediated cleavage of the precursor, AZD1152, in serum following parenteral administration in vivo. It shows inhibitory effects against a broad range of aurora kinases, including aurora A kinase (AKB), aurora B kinase (ABK), and aurora C kinase (ACK) with inhibition constant (K_i) of 1369 nM, 0.36 nM, and 17.0 nM respectively, as well as the FMS-like tyrosine kinase 3 internal tandem duplication (FLT3-ITD) mutation. Barasertib has demonstrated anti-tumor activity against a range tumor cell lines including those of leukaemic acute myeloid leukemia (AML) origin.

Reference

Martin Grundy, Claire Seedhouse, Nigel H Russell and Monica Pallis. P-glycoprotein and breast cancer resistance protein in acyte myeloid leukaemia cells treated with the aurora-B kinase inhibitor barasertib-Hqpa. BMC Cancer 2011, 11:254

Mike Dennis, Michelle Davies, Stuart Oliver, Roy D’Souza, Laura Pike, and Paul Stockman. Phase I study of the aurora B kinase inhibitor barasertib (AZD1152) to assess the pharmacokinetics, metabolism and excretion in patients with acute myeloid leukemia. Cancer Chemother Pharmacol (2012) 70:461-469

Reactive oxygen species generation and increase in mitochondrial copy number: new insight into the potential mechanism of cytotoxicity induced by aurora kinase inhibitor, AZD1152-HQPA.[Pubmed:28639950]

Anticancer Drugs. 2017 Sep;28(8):841-851.

Aurora-B kinase overexpression plays important roles in the malignant progression of prostate cancer (PCa). AZD1152-HQPA, as an inhibitor of Aurora-B, has recently emerged as a promising agent for cancer treatment. In this study, we aimed to investigate the effects of AZD1152-HQPA on reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation and mitochondrial function in PCa. We used AZD1152-HQPA (Barasertib), a highly potent and selective inhibitor of Aurora-B kinase. The effects of AZD1152-HQPA on cell viability, DNA content, cell morphology, and ROS production were studied in the androgen-independent PC-3 PCa cell line. Moreover, the mitochondrial copy number and the expression of genes involved in cell survival and cancer stem cell maintenance were investigated. We found that AZD1152-HQPA treatment induced defective cell survival, polyploidy, micronuclei formation, cell enlargement, and cell death by significant overexpression of p73, p21 and downregulation of cell cycle-regulatory genes in a drug concentration-dependent manner. Moreover, AZD1152 treatment led to an excessive ROS generation and an increase in the mitochondrial copy number not only in PC-3 but also in several other malignant cells. AZD1152 treatment also led to downregulation of genes involved in the maintenance of cancer stem cells. Our results showed a functional relationship between the aurora kinase inhibition, an increase in mitochondrial copy number, and ROS generation in therapeutic modalities of cancer. This study suggests that the excessive ROS generation may be a novel mechanism of cytotoxicity induced by the aurora kinase inhibitor, AZD1152-HQPA.

Inhibitor of Aurora Kinase B Induces Differentially Cell Death and Polyploidy via DNA Damage Response Pathways in Neurological Malignancy: Shedding New Light on the Challenge of Resistance to AZD1152-HQPA.[Pubmed:25752998]

Mol Neurobiol. 2016 Apr;53(3):1808-1823.

Aurora kinase B (AURKB), a crucial regulator of malignant mitosis, is involved in chromosome segregation and cytokinesis. AZD1152-HQPA is a selective inhibitor for AURKB activity and currently bears clinical assessment for several malignancies. However, the effect of this drug still needs to be elucidated in neurological malignancies. In this study, we investigated the restrictive potentials of AZD1152-HQPA in U87MG and SK-N-MC. AZD1152-HQPA treatment resulted in growth arrest, modification of cell cycle, and inhibition of colony formation in both cell lines. Furthermore, lower concentrations of AZD1152-HQPA profoundly induced apoptosis in U87GM (p53/p73 wild type) cells in parallel with an upregulation of p53 and its target genes BAX, BAD, APAF1, and PUMA. But remarkably, SK-N-MC (p53/p73 double null) responded to AZD1152-HQPA at much higher concentrations with an upregulation of genes involved in cell cycle progression, induction of excessive endoreduplication, and polyploidy rather than apoptosis. Although SK-N-MC was resistant to AZD1152-HQPA, we did not find a mutation in the coding sequence of Aurora B gene or overexpressions of ABCG2 and ABCB1 as reported previously to be resistance mechanisms. However, our results suggest that p53/p73 status could be an important mechanism for the type of response and resistance of the tumor cells to AZD1152-HQPA. Collectively, inhibition of Aurora kinase B differentially induced cell death and polyploidy via DNA damage response pathways, depending on the status of p53/p73. We suggest p53/p73 could be a key regulator of sensitivity to AZD1152-HQPA and their status should be explored in clinical response to this ongoing drug in clinical trials.

Optimizing Therapeutic Effect of Aurora B Inhibition in Acute Myeloid Leukemia with AZD2811 Nanoparticles.[Pubmed:28292940]

Mol Cancer Ther. 2017 Jun;16(6):1031-1040.

Barasertib (AZD1152), a highly potent and selective aurora kinase B inhibitor, gave promising clinical activity in elderly acute myeloid leukemia (AML) patients. However, clinical utility was limited by the requirement for a 7-day infusion. Here we assessed the potential of a nanoparticle formulation of the selective Aurora kinase B inhibitor AZD2811 (formerly known as AZD1152-hQPA) in preclinical models of AML. When administered to HL-60 tumor xenografts at a single dose between 25 and 98.7 mg/kg, AZD2811 nanoparticle treatment delivered profound inhibition of tumor growth, exceeding the activity of AZD1152. The improved antitumor activity was associated with increased phospho-histone H3 inhibition, polyploidy, and tumor cell apoptosis. Moreover, AZD2811 nanoparticles increased antitumor activity when combined with cytosine arabinoside. By modifying dose of AZD2811 nanoparticle, therapeutic benefit in a range of preclinical models was further optimized. At high-dose, antitumor activity was seen in a range of models including the MOLM-13 disseminated model. At these higher doses, a transient reduction in bone marrow cellularity was observed demonstrating the potential for the formulation to target residual disease in the bone marrow, a key consideration when treating AML. Collectively, these data establish that AZD2811 nanoparticles have activity in preclinical models of AML. Targeting Aurora B kinase with AZD2811 nanoparticles is a novel approach to deliver a cell-cycle inhibitor in AML, and have potential to improve on the clinical activity seen with cell-cycle agents in this disease. Mol Cancer Ther; 16(6); 1031-40. (c)2017 AACR.

Janus face-like effects of Aurora B inhibition: antitumoral mode of action versus induction of aneuploid progeny.[Pubmed:27515963]

Carcinogenesis. 2016 Oct;37(10):993-1003.

The mitotic Aurora B kinase is overexpressed in tumors and various inhibitors for Aurora B are currently under clinical assessments. However, when considering Aurora B kinase inhibitors as anticancer drugs, their mode of action and the role of p53 status as a possible predictive factor for response still needs to be investigated. In this study, we analyzed the effects of selective Aurora B inhibition using AZD1152-HQPA/Barasertib (AZD1152) on HCT116 cells, U87-MG, corresponding isogenic p53-deficient cells and a primary glioblastoma cell line. AZD1152 treatment caused polyploidy and non-apoptotic cell death in all cell lines irrespective of p53 status and was accompanied by poly-merotelic kinetochore-microtubule attachments and DNA damage. In p53 wild-type cells a DNA damage response induced an inefficient pseudo-G1 cell cycle arrest, which was not able to halt ongoing endoreplication of cells. Of note, release of tumor cells from AZD1152 resulted in recovery of aneuploid progenies bearing numerical and structural chromosomal aberrations. Yet, AZD1152 treatment enhanced death receptor TRAIL-R2 levels in all tumor cell lines investigated. A concomitant increase of the activating natural killer (NK) cell ligand MIC A/B in p53-deficient cells and an induction of FAS/CD95 in cells containing p53 rendered AZD1152-treated cells more susceptible for NK-cell-mediated lysis. Our study mechanistically explains a p53-independent mode of action of a chemical Aurora B inhibitor and suggests a potential triggering of antitumoral immune responses, following polyploidization of tumor cells, which might constrain recovery of aneuploid tumor cells.

Therapeutic polymeric nanoparticles and the methods of making and using thereof: a patent evaluation of WO2015036792.[Pubmed:27167102]

Expert Opin Ther Pat. 2016 Jul;26(7):751-5.

Evaluation of the patent application WO2015036792 claiming therapeutic polymeric nanoparticles loaded with AZD1152-hqpa (aurora kinase inhibitor), and methods of making and using same for the treatment of cancer, is described. The claimed polymeric nano-formulations containing hydrophobic acid significantly improved the pharmacokinetic profiles (slow/sustained drug release profile) of the drug AZD1152-hqpa, as compared to the control agent (AZD1152). Drug efficacy and tolerability were also improved, and toxicity decreased in in vivo animal experiments, resulting in a better therapeutic index for the nano-formulation. Hence, the nano-formulated AZD1152-hqpa could be tested in the clinic at a dose level similar to, or higher than, that used for AZD1152, with lower incidence of toxicity.