What question did this study set out to answer?

This research investigates TRI-611, a novel molecular glue degrader targeting ALK proteins, especially in TKI-resistant cases.

April 5, 2026

Abstract 5787: TRI-611, a development stage molecular glue degrader of ALK, promotes the degradation of TKI-resistant ALK fusion proteins and leads to regression of ALK TKI-refractory tumors

Key Points

This research investigates TRI-611, a novel molecular glue degrader targeting ALK proteins, especially in TKI-resistant cases.
Conducted in vitro biochemical and biophysical studies with TRI-611 on ALK proteins
Used Ba/F3 cells engineered to express EML4-ALK mutant alleles to test for efficacy
Performed mouse efficacy studies with subcutaneous xenografts of ALK-mutant cell lines
TRI-611 effectively interacts with various ALK fusion proteins, including TKI-resistant mutants
Showed potent anti-proliferation effects in ALK+ NSCLC cell lines and primary xenografts
Achieved regression of xenografts from patients previously unresponsive to ALK TKIs

Abstract

Abstract TRI-611 is a potent, brain-penetrant molecular glue degrader (MGD) of anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) that represents the first development stage MGD of an oncogenic fusion protein. By engaging ALK via a novel degron that is distal from the orthosteric tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) binding site, TRI-611 has the potential to promote the degradation of ALK proteins that are either wild-type or mutant in the kinase domain, the latter of which are an important mechanism of disease progression in patients treated with ALK TKIs. Here we show through in vitro biochemical and biophysical studies that TRI-611 is equally effective at promoting the interaction of CRBN with wild-type ALK and the ALKL1196M/G1202R compound mutant protein, as well as subsequent poly-ubiquitination. Through the use of Ba/F3 cells engineered to express 30 distinct alleles of EML4-ALK, we show that TRI-611 effectively targets all tested EML4-ALK mutant proteins in cells, including those that are refractory to ALK TKIs. The broad phenotypic activity of TRI-611 is further highlighted by potent anti-proliferation of cell line and patient-derived ALK+ NSCLC models with multiple ALK TKI resistance alleles. In mouse efficacy studies, TRI-611 leads to the regression of subcutaneous xenografts of CRISPR engineered EML4-ALK-mutant NCI-H3122 cells that do not respond to ALK TKIs. Finally, we show that TRI-611 leads to the regression of an EML4-ALK mutant primary patient-derived xenograft isolated from a patient that had progressed on prior alectinib and lorlatinib. These data demonstrate the potential of TRI-611 to address a key liability of ALK TKIs that all target the same site on ALK and support the development of TRI-611 in all ALK+ NSCLC patients, including patients with wild-type ALK kinase domain and those with acquired TKI resistance mutations. Citation Format: Andrew R. Conery, Daniel S. La, Artyom A. Alekseyenko, David Marcoux, Aaron G. Bart, Matt L. Harlow, Patrick R. Arsenault, Nico R. Cantone, Rebecca L. Casaubon, Hari B. Kamadurai, Aravind Prasad Medikonda, Duncan E. Nunes, Tim J. Wigle, Maolin Yu, Aleksandra Zagulyaeva, Christine Zarate, Lauren Highfield, Nobuyuki Kondo, Aaron N. Hata, Kenneth Ngo, Jisu Lee, Prafulla C. Gokhale, Kathleen I. Seyb, Patrick Trojer, Vito J. Palombella. TRI-611, a development stage molecular glue degrader of ALK, promotes the degradation of TKI-resistant ALK fusion proteins and leads to regression of ALK TKI-refractory tumors abstract. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2026; Part 1 (Regular Abstracts); 2026 Apr 17-22; San Diego, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2026;86(7 Suppl):Abstract nr 5787.

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