ulocuplumab (BMS-936564)

P1, N=13, Terminated, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute | Phase classification: P1/2 --> P1 | Active, not recruiting --> Terminated; Sponsor decision to end follow-up early

Utilizing anti-tumor chemokines or blocking pro-tumor chemokines may provide new therapeutic strategies for managing MM. Inspired by developed CXCR4 antagonists, including plerixafor, ulocuplumab, and motixafortide, more small molecular antagonists or antibodies for pro-tumor chemokine ligands and their receptors can be developed and used in clinical practice. Along with inhibiting pro-tumor chemokines, studies suggest combining chemokines with chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-T therapy is promising and efficient.

Plerixafor, BKT140, LY2510924, PF-06747143, ulocuplumab, and NOX-A12 are among the most well-known CXCR4 and CXCL12 modulators that their therapeutic efficacies have been evaluated in different pre-clinical and clinical studies of hematologic malignancies. To have an overview of the importance of CXCL12/CXCR4 and CXCL12/CXCR7 axes in the pathogenesis of leukemia and to gather information about the latest advances as well as challenges in targeting these axes in clinical settings, the present review has begun with a discussion about how aberrant expression of CXCL12/CXCR4 and CXCL12/CXCR7 pathways might regulate leukemogenesis and ended by outlining the key news of preclinical and clinical investigations in leukemia treatment.

Standard treatment regimens combine the anti-CD20 antibody rituximab with alkylating agents (eg, bendamustine, cyclophosphamide), nucleoside analogs (eg, fludarabine, cladribine), or proteasome inhibitors (eg, bortezomib, carfilzomib, and ixazomib). Covalent BTK inhibitors (eg, ibrutinib, acalabrutinib, zanubrutinib) have shown to be safe and highly effective in patients with WM. Novel and promising agents in this disease include next-generation covalent BTK inhibitors (eg, tirabrutinib, orelabrutinib), non-covalent BTK inhibitors (eg, pirtobrutinib, ARQ531), BCL-2 antagonists (eg, venetoclax), and CXCR4-targeted agents (eg, mavorixafor, ulocuplumab), among others. Future studies will focus on developing fixed-duration combinations regimens with these novel agents aimed at increasing durable responses while minimizing toxicity and cost.

The study demonstrates the feasibility of combining a CXCR4-antagonist with ibrutinib, and provides support for the development of CXCR4-antagonists for CXCR4Mut WM. www.clinicaltrials.gov (NCT03225716).

P1/2, N=13, Active, not recruiting, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute | Trial primary completion date: Jan 2021 --> Jan 2023

Alkylating agents (bendamustine, cyclophosphamide), proteasome inhibitors (bortezomib, carfilzomib, ixazomib), anti-CD20 monoclonal antibodies (rituximab, ofatumumab), and Bruton tyrosine kinase (BTK) inhibitors (ibrutinib, acalabrutinib, zanubrutinib) are safe and highly effective treatment options in patients with WM. Because novel covalent and noncovalent BTK inhibitors (tirabrutinib, vecabrutinib, LOXO-305, ARQ-531), BCL2 antagonists (venetoclax), and CXCR4-targeting agents (ulocuplumab, mavorixafor) are undergoing clinical development in WM, the future of WM therapy certainly appears bright and hopeful.

To date, Sanofi Genzyme's plerixafor is the only marketed CXCR4 inhibitor (i.e., Food and Drug Administration-approved in 2008 for stem cell mobilization)...These small molecules, peptides, and Abs include balixafortide (POL6326, Polyphor), mavorixafor (X4P-001, X4 Pharmaceuticals), motixafortide (BL-8040, BioLineRx), LY2510924 (Eli Lilly), and ulocuplumab (Bristol-Myers Squibb)...Biol. xx: xx-xx; 2020.

It is therefore of great interest to investigate CXCR4/CXCR7/CXCL12 modulators in clinical development, with several CXCR4 and CXCL12 modulators such as plerixafor, ulocuplumab, balixafortide, and olaptesed pegol having already reached this stage...Contrary to CXCR4 and CXCL12 modulators, CXCR7 modulators have, thus far, not been extensively studied. Therefore, more (pre)clinical investigations are needed.