Using Champions' Prostate PDX Models for Preclinical Validation of a Novel, PSMA-directed BiTE

Prostate cancer is a leading cause of mortality in men and the prognosis for metastatic disease remains poor despite new targets recently identified. PSMA is also an emerging target for immunotherapeutic modalities such as bispecific T cell engager (BiTE) technology. In this approach, the BiTE binds to a cell surface target on the tumor cell (such as PSMA), whilst simultaneously engaging the patient’s T cells through immune-expressed CD3. This process activates the T cell, leading to cytokine production, system-wide immune activation, and T cell-mediated destruction of the targeted cancer cells. AMG 160 (Amgen, Inc) is a PSMA-targeted BiTE molecule with an extended half-life.

Following promising results internally, Amgen turned to Champions Oncology to leverage our extensively characterized bank of prostate cancer PDX models to evaluate AMG 160 in combination with immunotherapies re-activating the immune system. This case study demonstrates how Amgen evaluated their PSMA-directed BiTE using Champions Prostate PDX models for preclinical validation.