Background Curative therapy for childhood sarcoma presents challenges when complete resection is not possible. Ionizing radiation (XRT) is used as a standard modality at diagnosis or recurrence for childhood sarcoma, however local recurrence is still problematic. Most childhood sarcomas are TP53 wild type at diagnosis, although approximately 5–10%have MDM2 amplification or overexpression. Procedures The MDM2 inhibitor, RG7388, was examined alone or in combination with XRT (20 Gy given in 2 Gy daily fractions) to immune-deficient mice bearing Rh18 (embryonal) or a total of 30 Gy in 2 Gy fractions to mice bearing Rh30 (alveolar) rhabdomyosarcoma xenografts. RG7388 was administered by oral gavage using two schedules (daily × 5; schedule 1 or once weekly; schedule 2). TP53, and TP53-responsive gene products (p21, PUMA, DDB2, MIC1) as well as markers of apoptosis, were analyzed. Results RG7388 showed no significant single agent antitumor activity. Twenty Gy XRT induced complete regressions (CR) of Rh18 with 100 percent tumor regrowth by week 7, but no tumor regrowth at 20 weeks when combined with RG7388. RG7388 enhanced time to recurrence combined with XRT in Rh30 xenografts compared to 30 Gy XRT alone. RG7388 did not enhance XRT-induced local skin toxicity. Combination treatments induced TP53 responsive genes more rapidly and to a greater magnitude than single agent treatments. Conclusions RG7388 enhanced the activity of XRT in both rhabdomyosarcoma models without increasing local XRT-induced skin toxicity. Changes in TP53-responsive genes were consistent with the synergistic activity of RG7388 and XRT in the Rh18 model.

Background The Pediatric Preclinical Testing Program (PPTP) has been successfully used to determine the efficacy of novel agents against solid tumors by testing them within a mouse-flank in vivo model. To date, radiation therapy has not been applied to this system. We report on the feasibility and biologic outcomes of a pilot study using alveolar and embryonal rhabdomyosarcoma xeno-graft lines. Procedures We developed a high-throughput mouse-flank irradiation device that allows the safe delivery of radiotherapy in clinically relevant doses. For our pilot study, two rhabdomyosarcoma xenograft lines from the PPTP, Rh30 (alveolar) and Rh18 (embryonal) were selected. Using established methods, xenografts were implanted, grown to appropriate volumes, and were subjected to fractionated radiotherapy. Tumor response-rates, growth kinetics, and event-free survival time were measured. Results Once optimized, the rate of acute toxicity requiring early removal from study in 93 mice was only 3%. During the optimization phase, it was observed that the alveolar Rh30 xenograft line demonstrated a significantly greater radiation resistance than embryonal Rh18 in vivo. This finding was validated within the standardized 30 Gy treatment phase, resulting in overall treatment failure rates of 10% versus 60% for the embryonal versus alveolar subtype, respectively. Conclusions Our pilot study demonstrated the feasibility of our device which enables safe, clinically relevant focal radiation delivery to immunocompromised mice. It further recapitulated the expected clinical radiobiology.

Purpose Alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma that harbors the PAX3/FOXO1 fusion gene (t-ARMS) is a common and lethal subtype of this childhood malignancy. Improvement in clinical outcomes in this disease is predicated upon the identification of novel therapeutic targets. Experimental Design Robust mouse models were used for in vivo analysis, and molecular studies were performed on xenografts treated in parallel. Two independent patient sets (n=101 and 124) of clinically-annotated tumor specimens were used for analysis of FANCD2 levels and its association with clinical and molecular characteristics and outcomes. Results Our xenograft studies reveal a selective suppression of FANCD2 by m-TOR kinase inhibition and radiosensitization of the t-ARMS line only. In the initial patient set, we show FANCD2 transcript levels are prognostic in univariate analysis, and are significantly associated with metastatic disease and that the co-presence of the translocation and high expression of FANCD2 is independently prognostic. We also demonstrate a significant and non-random enrichment of mTOR-associated genes that correlate with FANCD2 gene expression within the t-ARMS samples, but not within other cases. In the second patient set, we show that on a protein level, FANCD2 expression correlates with PAX3/FOXO1 fusion gene and is strongly associated with phospho-P70S6K expression in cases with the fusion gene. Conclusions Our data demonstrate that FANCD2 may have a significant role in the radiation resistance and virulence of t-ARMS. Indirectly targeting this DNA repair protein, through mTOR inhibition, may represent a novel and selective treatment strategy.