In vitro activity: NVP-AUY922 inhibits proliferation of various human cancer cell lines in vitro, with an average GI50 of 9 NM. The IC50 values of NVP-AUY922 fall in the range of 2 to 40 nM in these gastric cancer cell lines. IC50 value for the BEAS-2B cells is 28.49 nM. Treatment with NVP-AUY922 does not influence the expression of HSP90, but expression of HSP70 gets elevated by NVP-AUY922 treatment. NVP-AUY922 increases the binding of HSP70 to HSP90. NVP-AUY922 causes p23 dissociation from the HSP90 complex and can then recruit HSP70 to the HSP90 complex. After the treatment with NVP-AUY922, expression of receptor tyrosine kinases including VEGFR1, 2, 3 and PDGFRɑ is decreased. A decrease is also noticed in the expression of Akt and phospho-Akt. Meanwhile, treatment with NVP-AUY922 causes decreased expression of HER-2 in NCI-N87 cells. NVP-AUY922 treatment results in binding of HSP90 to client proteins and setting them up as targets for degradation by the proteasome. NVP-AUY922 can influence cell growth by affecting multiple signaling pathways. In addition, treatment with the proteasome inhibitor, MG132, restores expression of thymidylate synthase, which is decreased by NVP-AUY922. NVP-AUY922 increases the expression of cleaved caspase-3 leading to apoptosis in HSC-2 cells.

Kinase Assay: NVP-AUY922 is dissolved in DMSO at a concentration of 10 mM. NVP-AUY922 is assessed against HSP90α, HSP90β, GRP94, TRAP-1, HSP72, and topoisomerase II. Profiling against a panel of kinases has been carried out and screening against a panel of additional enzymes and receptors is performed at Cerep.

Cell Assay: Human gastric cancer cells NCI-N87 (5-7 ×103 in 50 μL/well) are seeded in 96-well plates and incubated at 37 °C for 24 hours, followed by NVP-AUY922 treatment for 1-3 days at 37 °C. After treatment, the cells are assayed by MTT method and analyzed by microplate reader.

Cancer Sci. 2011 Jul;102(7):1388-95; Anticancer Res. 2011 Apr;31(4):1197-204; Cancer Res. 2008 Apr 15;68(8):2850-60.