MET overexpression

The ADC ABBV-400 comprises the c-Met–targeting antibody telisotuzumab conjugated to a potent topoisomerase 1 inhibitor payload. ABBV-400 showed promising preliminary efficacy, with molecular and radiographic responses in pts with advanced solid tumors with heterogeneous genomic profiles, including pts with high TMB and KRAS mutations.

This study identified two hub genes, MET and FAM20A, with potential diagnostic value in HT and PTC.

Our preclinical data suggest that the camelid antibody 1E7-Fc could be a potential theranostic agent for HNSCC. Further investigations are warranted to confirm these findings in patients and to evaluate 1E7-Fc as an imaging agent and platform to deliver radionuclide or drug therapy to MET-driven cancers.

EMI-137 accumulates in dysplastic lesions within BE and in c-MET positive EAC. EMI-137 imaging has potential as a screening and surveillance tool for patients with BE and as a means to detecting dysplasia and EAC.

Overall, the research highlights the critical role of targeting c-Met to address osimertinib resistance in NSCLC. By demonstrating the efficacy of xanthohumol in overcoming resistance and enhancing therapeutic outcomes, this study provides valuable insights and potential new strategies for improving the clinical management of NSCLC.

P1, N=50, Active, not recruiting, Tavotek Biotherapeutics | Recruiting --> Active, not recruiting | Trial completion date: Dec 2025 --> Jun 2026 | Trial primary completion date: Jun 2024 --> Dec 2025

A 43-year-old, female diagnosed with T4N3M1c NSCLC harboring the echinoderm microtubule-associated protein-like 4 (EML4)-ALK fusion variant 1 (EML4-ALK v.1) and TP53 co-mutation, displayed only mixed response after three months and highly symptomatic progression after 6 months of first-line brigatinib treatment. The latter may represent a mechanism of intrinsic ALK-TKI resistance and its recognition by FISH, in NGS-negative cases, may be considered before initiating first-line treatment. This recognition is clinically important as combined therapy with ALK-TKI and MET-inhibitor should be the preferred first-line treatment.

P2, N=47, Active, not recruiting, AstraZeneca | Suspended --> Active, not recruiting | Trial completion date: Dec 2024 --> Aug 2025 | Trial primary completion date: Oct 2024 --> Aug 2025

The expression of the PD-L1 and MET genes is remarkably associated with worse tumor clinicopathologic features and poor prognosis in patients with breast cancer. Further investigations using combination drug regimens targeting PD-L1 and MET are important, particularly in breast tumors expressing high levels of both proteins.

P1, N=177, Completed, Haihe Biopharma Co., Ltd. | Unknown status --> Completed | N=75 --> 177

P1, N=56, Completed, Haihe Biopharma Co., Ltd. | Unknown status --> Completed | N=113 --> 56

Our study elucidates the clinicomolecular characteristics and prognosis of C-MET overexpression in NSCLC patients, particularly those with positive C-MET overexpression (IHC 3+). This provides insight into the prevalence of C-MET overexpression in Chinese NSCLC patients and offers a basis for considering C-MET overexpression as a prognostic and predictive marker in NSCLC.

This combination increased infectivity by augmenting the expression of coxsackievirus and adenovirus receptors and αV integrin on cancer cells and induced autophagy. Our findings suggest that combining a c-Met promoter-driven oncolytic adenovirus with rapamycin could be an effective lung cancer treatment strategy, offering a targeted approach to exploit lung cancer cells' vulnerabilities, potentially marking a significant advancement in managing this deadly disease.

Importantly, rAd.mDCN.mCD40L and rAd.mCD40L prevented tumor liver metastasis much more effectively than rAd.Null and rAd.mDCN. Therefore, rAd.mDCN.mCD40L and rAd.mCD40L are promising approaches for CRC therapy.

P4, N=20, Recruiting, The First Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine; The First Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine | Not yet recruiting --> Recruiting

Distinctive gene expression profiles between OCCC and HGSOC underscore disparate tumorigenic mechanisms, thereby laying a foundation for the tailored therapeutic interventions. Further elucidation of the identified differentially expressed genes is warranted to delineate their role in OCCC pathogenesis and prognostic significance.

This study highlights integrin αvβ6 and EGFR as viable FLI targets in OSCC and LSCC, especially integrin αvβ6 for tumour margin delineation. In PTC, despite lower expressions, the significant overexpression of VEGF-α, c-MET, and EGFR suggests their potential as FLI targets. Our findings support the development of tumour-targeted FLI tracers to improve surgical precision in HNC.

Yet, to our knowledge, we present herein the first case of ALK + NSCLC rapidly progressing on 1 st line Brigatinib treatment due to de novo MET- amplification. The recognition of this mechanism of ALK-TKI resistance by FISH, especially in NGS-negative cases, should be considered before initiating 1 st line treatment. This is of clinical importance, as effective combined therapy with ALK-TKI and MET-inhibitor is feasible.

P2, N=109, Active, not recruiting, National Cancer Institute (NCI) | Trial completion date: Jul 2023 --> Sep 2024

Of great note, there are currently nine c-Met-targeting ADCs being examined in different phases of clinical studies as well as eight preclinical studies for treating various solid tumors. The purpose of this study is to present a broad overview of clinical- and preclinical-stage c-Met-targeting ADCs.

Combination treatment with lorlatinib and erlotinib significantly reduced HRG1-induced activation of RTK signaling in ALK-positive NSCLC cells. HER3 overexpression has potential as a prognostic marker in ALK-positive NSCLCs, including ALK-TKI naïve and treated cases, especially those with EML4-ALK V1/V2. Assessing HER3 expression may be crucial for treatment planning and outcome prediction in these patients.

This model was evaluated on an independent holdout test set of 300 over-expressed and 289 normal patients, demonstrating an ROC-AUC of 0.70 (95th percentile interval: 0.66 - 0.74) with stable performance characteristics across different patient clinical variables and robust to synthetic noise on the test set. These results suggest that H&E-based predictive models could be useful to prioritize patients for confirmatory testing of MET protein or MET gene expression status.

Anlotinib is an effective targeted therapy for advanced non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and has been found to mediate chemoresistance in many cancers. Furthermore, MET overexpression reversed the inhibitory effect of anlotinib on the DDP resistance of NSCLC cells, and this effect could be eliminated by MCL-1 knockdown or ACT001 (an inhibitor for STAT3/Akt pathway). Our results confirmed that anlotinib inhibited DDP resistance in NSCLC cells, which might decrease MCL-1 expression via mediating the MET/STAT3/Akt pathway.

TWIST1 mediated MET TKI resistance through suppression of p27 expression and genetic or pharmacologic inhibition of TWIST1 overcame TKI resistance in vitro and in vivo. Our findings suggest that targeting TWIST1 may be an effective therapeutic strategy to overcome resistance in MET-driven NSCLC as well as in other oncogene driven subtypes in which MET amplification is the resistance mechanism.

P3; Trial completion date: Jul 2026 --> Mar 2028

Importantly, compound 16 demonstrates superior antitumor potency compared to the PARP1 inhibitor Olaparib and the c-Met inhibitor Crizotinib, either alone or in combination, in MDA-MB-231 and HCT116OR xenograft models. These findings highlight the potential of PARP1/c-Met dual inhibitors for expanding the indications of PARP1 inhibitors and overcoming tumor cells' resistance to them.

BRCC3 acted as a critical factor in the development of COAD by deubiquitinating and stabilizing MET, which might provide an emerging biomarker for the therapeutic and diagnosis strategy of COAD.

P3; Trial completion date: Mar 2028 --> Jul 2026

P2, N=60, Suspended, AstraZeneca | Recruiting --> Suspended

MET positive expression was an independent predictor of poor outcomes in untreated EGFR L858R mutation advanced LUAD patients treated with first-line EGFR-TKI monotherapy.

P1/2, N=237, Recruiting, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals | N=83 --> 237 | Trial completion date: Dec 2026 --> Feb 2030 | Trial primary completion date: Dec 2026 --> Feb 2030

P2, N=246, Completed, UNICANCER | Active, not recruiting --> Completed

P1, N=78, Recruiting, Abion Inc | Trial completion date: Dec 2023 --> Dec 2024 | Trial primary completion date: Dec 2023 --> Dec 2024

High-level METamp may be an oncogenic driver in HCC that is sensitive to MET inhibitors such as tepotinib.

Notably, a strong correlation was observed between focal amplification and PD-L1 expression, indicating potential therapeutic implications with combined MET inhibitor and immunotherapy for patients with both alterations. Our findings provide insights into the molecular complexity and clinical relevance of METamp in lung cancer, highlighting the role of MET focal amplification as an oncogenic driver and its feasibility as a primary biomarker to further investigate the clinical activity of MET inhibitors in future studies.

Overexpression of oncogenic GnaqQ209L in the immortalized melanocyte cell line promoted in vivo growth that was enhanced by transgenic Hgf expression in the tumor microenvironment. This cross-signaling mechanism explains the selection of oncogenic Gnaq/11 in primary Hgf-Cdk4 melanomas and provides an example of how oncogenic driver mutations, intracellular signaling cascades, and microenvironmental cues cooperate to drive cancer development in a tissue-specific fashion.

P2, N=44, Active, not recruiting, Guangdong Association of Clinical Trials | Recruiting --> Active, not recruiting

DIAPHs, KIF20B, and MET are promising candidates for the prognosis and treatment of PC. More importantly, downregulation of KIF20B and MET inhibited pancreatic cancer progression by regulating LDHA and EMT.

The control group and co-transfection group were between the two groups, and the difference between the groups was statistically significant (P <0.05). HepG2 cell proliferation, migration, invasion, and cell apoptosis induction can be inhibited by miR-200a, and the functional mechanism for this may be associated with the miR-200a target's ability to down-regulate MET expression in HepG2 cells.

Monitoring c-MET+ CTC, rather than assessing c-MET expression in the primary BC site, could provide valuable information for predicting disease progression, as c-MET expression can change during treatment. The c-MET+ CTC count and cfDNA concentration could provide complementary information on disease progression in HR+ /HER2- mBC, highlighting the importance of integrated liquid biopsy.

Moreover, our review provides an overview of and recommendations on the selection of various cross-platform technologies for the detection of MET exon 14 skipping variants, MET amplification, MET overexpression, and MET fusion. Furthermore, challenges and hurdles underlying these common detection platforms are discussed.

Since there are many types of MET alterations and related testing methods, as well as many problems and challenges during clinical testing, further sorting and standardization are required. Combined with clinical practice experience, literature review, and expert discussion, the writing group developed this consensus on the three main types of MET alterations (METex14 skipping, MET gene amplification, and MET protein overexpression) in order to guide the practical applications of clinical MET testing.