Abstract 3460: Inhibition of c-met radio-sensitizes in breast cancer brain metastatic cancer

Ionizing radiation (IR) is a critical component in the treatments of breast cancer patients with all stages of the disease and a gold standard modality in patients with multiple brain metastasis, demonstrating improved overall survival (OS) in recent meta-analysis. However, the problem of recurrent or persistent disease exists due to tumor radio-resistance, and the development of distant metastasis after IR has presented a major obstacle to treatment. We investigated which molecule could be targeted for radio-sensitization. We found that c-Met over-expression and activation of downstream-signaling were induced in response to IR in a panel of human breast cancer cells by q-PCR, FACS, and Western blot analysis. The radio-sensitizing effect of c-Met silencing in vitro showed that increased c-Met activity is required for radio-resistance. In addition, c-Met inhibition combined with IR showed synergistic antitumor response including improved tumor regression and lengthened overall survival in breast cancer orthotopic and experimental brain metastasis xenograft models. Our preclinical findings establish a basis for a novel strategy to target the HGF/c-Met pathway with radiation when treating primary and brain metastatic breast cancer and possibly other c-Met pathway dependent cancers. Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 103rd Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2012 Mar 31-Apr 4; Chicago, IL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2012;72(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 3460. doi:1538-7445.AM2012-3460