Pharmacological and safety evaluation of CIGB-300, a casein kinase 2 inhibitor peptide, administered intralesionally to patients with cervical cancer stage IB2/II

CIGB-300 is a pro-apoptotic casein kinase 2 inhibitor peptide with potential anticancer action. An open-label and dose scaling Phase I trial was carried out to investigate the peptide tumor uptake, pharmacokinetics, toxicity, and levels of a CIGB-300 response biomarker in patients with cervical cancer stage IB2/II. Fourteen patients were included; six of them received 35 mg, 6 received 70 mg and the two remaining patients received 245 mg of CIGB-300 prior chemoradiotherapy. CIGB-300 was applied by intratumor injections during 5-consecutive days. For pharmacokinetic and biodistribution studies, the peptide was radiolabeled with 99m Tc in the first administration and whole body gammagraphy and plasma testing were done during 48 h. Data showed that the maximum tolerated dose was 70 mg for CIGB-300 in this clinical setting. Furthermore, an allergic-like syndrome was identified as the dose limiting toxicity, which was well-correlated with plasmatic histamine levels. Importantly, the mean tumor uptake was 14.9 mg and 10.4 mg for CIGB-300 doses of 35 and 70 mg, respectively. Also, the kidneys were the main target organ for drug elimination. Finally, treatment with CIGB-300 significantly reduced the B23/nucleophosmin levels in tumor specimens. CIGB-300 meets potentialities to be tested in future trials in a neoadjuvant setting prior to chemoradiotherapy in cervical cancer.