In a trial matching the genetic makeup of tumors with new treatments, tumors shrank in 22% of patients with cancer who received the AKT inhibitor ipatasertib. Participants included those with breast cancer and endometrial cancer as well as those with two rarer types of cancer, anal and salivary gland. Most of the other patients (56%) remained stable.
The research involved a small number of patients with advanced cancers. The results were presented at the 2022 EORTC-NCI-AACR Symposium on Molecular Targets and Cancer by Carolyn McCourt, MD, of Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis.
Dr. McCourt said: “Although we have known about the role of AKT in cancer for decades, there are currently no AKT inhibitors that have approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Recently, several clinical trials have tested AKT inhibitors either alone or in combination with other treatments, with some success.”
The new research is part of a larger study, NCI-MATCH, which aims to determine whether patients with cancer can be treated successfully by selecting therapies that target gene abnormalities found in their tumors, rather than by cancer type. NCI-MATCH is co-led by the Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group–American College of Radiology Imaging Network (ECOG-ACRIN) and the NCI.
Treatment and Results
In this part of the study, all patients had AKT1 E17K–mutated tumors. This mutation is estimated to be present in up to 4% of breast tumors, around 2% of endometrial tumors, and a small proportion of other solid tumors.
Most of the 32 patients treated with ipatasertib had already tried at least three other types of therapy. During the trial, patients took oral ipatasertib daily in 28-day cycles, continuing for as long as the treatment was tolerated and effective. In an estimated 44% of patients, tumors did not grow for at least 6 months while taking ipatasertib. The most common reported side effects were diarrhea and nausea.
Dr. McCourt commented: “This is a relatively small patient population, and we do not have a large number of each individual tumor type. However, we have found signs that this treatment could be working for some patients. We need to do more research to understand why some patients’ tumors did not respond to ipatasertib, while other patients experienced a prolonged time when their disease remained stable on this treatment. We also need to investigate whether we can combine ipatasertib with other drugs to improve the outcome for more patients.”
Kalinsky K et al: EORTC-NCI-AACR Symposium on Molecular Targets and Cancer. Abstract 11. Presented October 28, 2022.
