The aim of this study was to determine the efficacy of sagopilone (ZK-EPO), a novel epothilone, compared with other anticancer agents in orthotopic models of human primary and secondary brain tumors. Autoradiography and pharmacokinetic analyses were performed on rats and mice to determine passage across the blood-brain barrier and organ distribution of sagopilone. Mice bearing intracerebral human tumors (U373 or U87 glioblastoma, MDA-MB-435 melanoma, or patient-derived non-small-cell lung cancer [NSCLC]) were treated with sagopilone 5-10 mg/kg, paclitaxel 8-12.5 mg/kg (or temozolomide, 100 mg/kg) or control (vehicle only). Tumor volume was measured to assess antitumor activity. Sagopilone crossed the blood-brain barrier in both rat and mouse models, leading to therapeutically relevant concentrations in the brain with a long half-life. Sagopilone exhibited significant antitumor activity in both the U373 and U87 models of human glioblastoma, while paclitaxel showed a limited effect in the U373 model. Sagopilone significantly inhibited the growth of tumors from CNS metastasis models (MDA-MB-435 melanoma and patient-derived Lu7187 and Lu7466 NSCLC) implanted in the brains of nude mice, in contrast to paclitaxel or temozolomide. Sagopilone has free access to the brain. Sagopilone demonstrated significant antitumor activity in orthotopic models of both glioblastoma and CNS metastases compared with paclitaxel or temozolomide, underlining the value of further research evaluating sagopilone in the treatment of brain tumors. Sagopilone is currently being investigated in a broad phase II clinical trial program, including patients with glioblastoma, NSCLC, breast cancer, and melanoma.

Epothilones are a new class of natural and potent antineoplastic agents that stabilize microtubules. Although 12,13-epoxide derivatives are potent antiproliferative agents, the activities of the corresponding 12,13-olefin analogs are significantly decreased. These data were confirmed for two new analogs, 6-propyl-EpoB (pEB) and 6-propyl-EpoD (pED), in comparison with the natural compounds EpoB͞EpoD, by using human A431, MCF7, and MDR1-overexpressing NCI͞Adr cells. By using tritiated pEB͞pED, compound uptake, release, and nuclear accumulation were investigated in A431 and NCI͞Adr cells. In these cells, epothilones can principally be recognized and exported by Verapamil-sensitive efflux pumps, which are not identical to MDR1. The degree of export depends on the structure, olefin vs. epoxide-analog, and also on the intracellular drug concentration. The accumulation of pED used at 3.5 or 70 nM, respectively, was increased in the presence of 10 M Verapamil in both cell lines 2-to 8-fold. In contrast, the intracellular levels of pEB were affected by Verapamil only at 3.5 nM pEB in NCI͞Adr (2-fold) and not in A431 cells. In addition, strong nuclear accumulation was observed for pEB (40 -50%) but not paclitaxel or pED (5-15%) in both cell lines. Our study suggests that differences in growth inhibitory efficacy between epoxide and olefin analogs may be based on different mechanisms of drug accumulation and subcellular distribution. Epothilones are a new class of natural products and potential antineoplastic agents. Although they have no structural similarities to taxanes, they exert cellular effects similarly to paclitaxel (Taxol). Thus, epothilones bind to tubulin and cause hyperstabilization of microtubules with subsequent mitotic arrest and apoptotic cell death (1-3). The molecular mechanisms by which epothilones and paclitaxel induce apoptosis remain to be elucidated.It has been demonstrated that epothilones are generally superior to paclitaxel in their ability to inhibit the proliferation of human cancer cell lines that are resistant to commonly used anticancer agents, including paclitaxel. The best understood mechanism of resistance to cytotoxic drugs, including antimicrotubule agents is drug export by multidrug-resistant pglycoprotein (MDR1) (4). Although taxanes are substrates for MDR1, epothilones are not, and thus MDR1-positive tumor cells remain sensitive to epothilones (1, 2, 5-9).The 12,13-epoxide moiety of epothilone A (EpoA) and B (EpoB) is dispensable for tubulin͞microtubule-related effects in vitro, because the corresponding olefin analogs (EpoC and EpoD), as inducers of tubulin polymerization, are equally potent to EpoA and EpoB (7,8,10). Formal removal of epoxide oxygen in EpoB, thus leading to EpoD, does cause a significant decrease (ϳ10-to 30-fold) in antiproliferative activity (9). Furthermore, exposure of tumor cells to EpoB for a 4-h period produces virtually the same growth inhibitory effect as a continuous 3-day exposure, whereas for EpoD, exposure times more than 4 h were required to produce ef...

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Supported by Bayer HealthCare Pharmaceuticals, The Eunice Kennedy Shriver NICHD Contraceptive Development and Research Center (U54 HD055744), NIH Office of the Director (Oregon National Primate Research Center P51 OD011092), and a Lalor Foundation Postdoctoral Basic Research Fellowship (MCP). The use of the Leica confocal was supported by grant number S10RR024585. Some of the authors (N.B., A.R., K.-H.F., U.F., B.B. and B.L.) are employees of Bayer Healthcare Pharma.