Specific demonstration of drug-induced tumour cell apoptosis in human xenografts models using a plasma biomarker.

Pharmacodynamic (PD) assays should be used before advancing new drugs to clinical trials. Most PD assays measure the response to drugs in tissue, a procedure which requires tissue biopsies. The M30-Apoptosense ELISA is a PD biomarker assay for the quantitative determination of caspase-cleaved cytokeratin 18 (CK18) released from apoptotic carcinoma cells into blood. We here demonstrate that whereas the M30-Apoptosense ELISA assay detects human caspase-cleaved CK18, the mouse and rat CK18 caspase cleavage products are detected with low affinity. The M30-Apoptosense ELISA therefore facilitates the determination of drug-induced apoptosis in human tumour xenografts in rodents using plasma samples, largely independently from host toxicity. Increases of caspase-cleaved CK18 were observed in plasma from different carcinoma xenograft models in response to anticancer drugs. The appearance caspase-cleaved CK18 in plasma was found to reflect formation of the caspase-cleaved epitope in FaDu head-neck carcinomas and in cultured cells. The M30-Apoptosense assay allows determination of tumour response in blood from xenograft models and from patients, providing a powerful tool for translational studies of anticancer drugs.