Alkido Pharma Inc (NASDAQ:AIKI) has published a paper titled: “The Novel Phospholipid Mimetic KPC34 Is Highly Active Against Acute Myeloid Leukemia with Activated Protein Kinase” authored by Kristin Pladna, Peter Alexander Timothy Pardee and Gregory Kucera in the 2020 Translational Oncology July issue. The paper shows the results of Aikido’s backed research at Wake Forest University.
Aikido discusses the approach to treat AML
The paper discusses the approach employed to treat Acute Myeloid Leukaemia (AML), which is considered an aggressive malignancy that has poor outcomes. Usually, nucleoside analogs are likely to show resistance mechanisms, including the downregulation of the equilibrative nucleoside transporter and deoxycytidine kinase. KPC34 is a proprietary phospholipid mimetic that phospholipase C can cleave to liberate gemcitabine monophosphate as well as diacylglycerol mimetic inhibiting classical protein kinase C (PKC) isoforms.
In all the AML cell lines that were tested in the nanomolar range with IC50s, KPC34 was active. Similarly, enforced PLC expression enhanced the response to KPC34 in vivo. In the orthotopic xenograft model, treatment with KPC34 led to a substantial increase in survival relative to control animals as well as those that received high-dose cytarabine.
Research data to help quantify benefits of the unique AML treatment approach
On the other hand, in the PDX model in which PKC was activated, the survival benefit with KPC34 was significant, and PKC was attenuated at progression in resistant cells. However, KPC34 appeared to be ineffective versus a syngeneic orthotopic AML model that didn’t have activated PKC. But when the model cells were set to show PKC, there was a considerable increase in vitro sensitivity and in vivo survival benefit. The data indicate that KPC34 was active versus AML, and as a result, activated PKC presence is a predictive biomarker.
Aikido CEO Anthony Hayes indicated that Wake Forest University has been an outstanding partner of the company, and it is also a reputable research facility. He added that the comprehensive research report will help the company in quantifying the expected benefits of its unique approach to the aggressive disease with the optimism of a transformative solution.
