Alternative scheduling of pulsatile, high dose sunitinib efficiently suppresses tumor growth

BACKGROUND: Increased exposure to multitargeted kinase inhibitor sunitinib is associated with improved outcome, emphasizing the importance of maintaining adequate dosing and drug levels. The currently approved schedule (50 mg daily, four weeks on, two weeks off) precludes further dose-intensification. Recent data suggest that sunitinib, although initially developed as an antiangiogenic agent, has direct antitumor activity. METHODS: In this study, we tested whether a chemotherapy-like schedule of pulsatile high dose sunitinib would result in improved antitumor activity. RESULTS: In vitro, a single exposure to 20 μM sunitinib for 6-9 h resulted in complete inhibition of tumor cell growth and cell death conveyed through activation of caspases and autophagy upregulation. Notably, repeated exposure of tumor cells to pulses of high concentrations of sunitinib did not induce resistance. In vivo, once-weekly treatment with high dose sunitinib of tumors growing on the chorioallantoic membrane (CAM) of the chicken embryo significantly impaired tumor growth by 57 % compared to vehicle, outperforming the daily, standard scheduling. CONCLUSIONS: These results prompted the initiation of a phase I clinical trial, where intermittent, high dose sunitinib is being investigated in patients with advanced solid tumors (registration number and date: NCT02058901, 30 September 2013, respectively). The trial is actively recruiting patients and promising preliminary indications of antitumor activity have been observed.