Pharmacological profiling of a dual FAK/IGF-1R kinase inhibitor TAE226 in cellular and in vivo tumor models

OBJECTIVE: A dual inhibitor of focal adhesion kinase (FAK) and insulin-like growth factor 1 receptor (IGF-1R), TAE226, was evaluated in a panel of cancer cell lines, MIA PaCa-2 human pancreatic tumor and 4T1 murine breast tumor models. The profiling data were generated during the drug discovery research prior to the first publication of TAE226 appeared in 2007 (Liu et al. in Mol Cancer Ther 6:1357–1367, 2007; Shi et al. in Mol Carcinog 46(6):488–496, 2007; Halder et al. in Cancer Res 67(22):10976–10983, 2007). RESULTS: In a panel of 37 cancer cell lines, TAE226 showed a mean GI(50) value of 0.76 μmol/L. In the MIA PaCa-2 model, TAE226 inhibited phosphorylation of Y397-FAK and phosphorylation of S473-Akt as IGF-1R signaling in the cell culture in vitro and the tumor in mice. Oral administration of TAE226 induced tumor stasis at 30 mg/kg and tumor regression at 100 mg/kg in the subcutaneous tumor, and inhibited the orthotopic tumor growth in a dose-dependent manner. Similarly in the 4T1 model, TAE226 inhibited phosphorylation of Y397-FAK and S473-Akt in the cell culture in vitro and the tumor in mice. Oral administration of TAE226 inhibited the orthotopic tumor growth and metastasis to the lung in a dose-dependent manner. Thus, TAE226 represents a novel class of selective and small molecule kinase inhibitor with a potent in vivo activity. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (10.1186/s13104-019-4389-7) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.