Combined Pharmacologic Inhibition of Bcl-Xl/Bcl-2 and mTORC1/2 Survival Signals Trigger Apoptosis in BCR-ABL1⁺in Vitro Models of Blast Crisis Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia (CML-BC), and Primary CD34⁺/CD38⁻ Stem and CD34⁺ progenitor Cells From CML-BC Patients

Abstract 2738

Tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) have become frontline therapy for CML; however, alternative therapies are required, as TKIs do not induce long-term response in CML patients undergoing blastic transformation and are ineffective against Philadelphia-positive (Ph⁺) quiescent stem cells, which show innate resistance to BCR-ABL1 kinase inhibitors. Therapeutic targets of interest are survival factors conferring resistance to TKI-induced apoptosis and/or those increasing proliferation of leukemic progenitors.

We previously reported (Harb JG et al., ASH 2007) that genetic inactivation of Bcl-x did not inhibit BCR-ABL1 leukemogenesis in an inducible mouse model of CML. Thus, we hypothesize that BCR/ABL mediated post-translational modification and inactivation of pro-apoptotic BAD negates the requirement for the anti-apoptotic function of Bcl-xL in stem/progenitor cells from SCLtTA-BCR/ABL1/Bcl-x^−/− mice. Following this rationale, we tested if simultaneous pharmacologic BAD activation and Bcl-xL inhibition may be an efficient way of killing CML stem/progenitor cells.

To test this, loss of Bcl-xL function with increased levels of active BAD was achieved by expressing Bcl-x shRNA in 32D-BCR/ABL mouse myeloid precursors that were then treated with LY294002 (LY), which suppresses the inhibitory effects of PI-3K/Akt activation on BAD. Flow cytometric analysis of Annexin V⁺ cells revealed that levels of apoptosis were three times higher in BCR-ABL1⁺ cells expressing the Bcl-x shRNA when compared with vector-transduced BCR-ABL1⁺ cells. As expected, increased levels of dephosphorylated (active) BAD at the mitochondrial membrane were found in LY-treated BCR-ABL⁺ cells. Interestingly, co-treatment of Bcl-x shRNA-expressing BCR-ABL1⁺ cells with LY and the Bcl-xL/Bcl-2 antagonist ABT-263 (ABT) did not further promote apoptosis, suggesting that decreased survival of BCR-ABL1⁺ cells was dependent on downregulation of Bcl-xL and not Bcl-2.

To determine efficacy of combined pharmacologic Bcl-xL inhibition and BAD activation, 32D-BCR/ABL and K562 cells were treated with compounds expected to activate BAD upon inhibition of PI-3K/Akt/mTOR-generated signals, used alone or in combination with ABT. Individually, at suboptimal doses, LY, Rapamycin (RAP), mTORC1/2 inhibitor PP242, and ABT were tolerated with apoptosis levels lower than 20%. Notably, when combined with ABT, all three efficiently induced apoptosis (∼90% Annexin V⁺) of BCR-ABL1⁺ cells. As with LY, increased levels of active BAD were found at the mitochondrial membrane of RAP- and PP242-treated BCR-ABL1⁺ cells. We found that PP242 downregulated p-Akt (92%), Mcl-1 (67%) and Bcl-xL (51%) more efficiently than RAP or LY.

It has been shown that PP242 impairs the clonogenic potential of TKI-resistant mononuclear BM CML-BC cells; however, its effects when used alone or in combination with ABT on survival of normal and leukemic hematopoietic stem (HSCs) and progenitor cells is still unknown. Thus, HSC-enriched (CD34+/CD38-) and progenitor (CD34+) CML-BC cell fractions were isolated from bone marrow and peripheral blood and used in colony forming (CFC) assays with ABT, PP242 or ABT/PP242. ABT alone did not suppress colony formation of Ph⁺ CD34⁺/CD38⁻ cells, while PP242 reduced it by nearly 50%. Conversely, ABT/PP242 combination decreased Ph⁺ stem and progenitor colony formation by ∼80%. Furthermore, the self-renewal of Ph⁺ CD34⁺/CD38⁻ cells was markedly impaired by ABT/PP242 as demonstrated by the 80% decrease in replating efficiency.

To assess if non-leukemic stem cells would tolerate ABT/PP242, colony assays were performed with LSK from wild type mice treated with ABT, PP242, RAP and ABT/PP242. We did not find a significant effect of ABT or PP242 on clonogenic potential when given as single agents. More importantly, combined treatment decreased CFC output by only 35% while RAP, which has an acceptable toxicity profile as it has been used in clinical trials for patients unresponsive to TKIs, decreased LSK colony forming potential by 50%.

In summary, our data showing that combined treatment with the mTORC1/2 inhibitor/BAD activator PP242 and the BCl-xL/Bcl-2 antagonist ABT-263 markedly induces apoptosis of BCR-ABL⁺ cell lines, in HSCs and in progenitors from CML-BC patients. This approach warrants further pre-clinical investigation aimed at inclusion in clinical protocols for treating blast crisis CML.