Antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) are composed of monoclonal antibodies conjugated to potent cytotoxic payloads via linkers for cancer treatment. However, the ADCs are also associated with the risk of drug-induced interstitial lung disease (ILD), primarily due to off-target payload distribution. This study aimed to develop a whole-body physiologically based pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic (PBPK-PD) model to simultaneously predict the pharmacokinetics, therapeutic efficacy and associated risks of ILD using trastuzumab deruxtecan (T-DXd) and sacituzumab govitecan (SG) as model drugs. The model was initially validated in corresponding tumor-bearing mice and subsequently scaled up to breast cancer patients. Plasma concentrations of ADCs and their released payloads as well as progression-free survival (PFS) following treatment with the ADCs were simulated in patients using the developed PBPK-PD model. The results showed that most of the observed plasma concentrations of ADCs and their payloads fell within the 5th-95th percentiles derived from simulations of 1000 virtual patients, with the predicted AUC0-t and Cmax were all within 0.5-fold to 2-fold of the observations. The predicted PFS values were also consistent with clinical observations. Data from Sobol' global sensitivity analysis showed that tumor surface antigen expression levels and the internalization rate of the antigen-ADC complex are the primary factors influencing ADCs distribution. A relationship between payload concentration in lungs and the risk of ILD was also documented, showing that the risk increased with advancing patient age and elevated dosage. All these results give a conclusion that the developed PBPK-PD model may be applied to predict the pharmacokinetics and therapeutical efficacy of T-DXd and SG as well as risk of ILD.
Wang et al. (2025) studied this question.