Anti-Myeloma Activity of LDC-000067, a Novel Selective Inhibitor of Cyclin Dependent Kinase 9: A Targeted Approach

Cyclin-dependent kinase (CDK) inhibitors are reported to induce apoptosis in myeloma cells (Gojo et al., 2002; MacCallum et al., 2005). Here we investigated pro-apoptotic and anti-proliferative effects of LDC-000067, a novel selective CDK9-inhibitor, in three multiple myeloma (MM) cell lines (L-363; RPMI-8226; U-266). In addition, we studied consequences of selective CDK 9-inhibition regarding transcriptional activity (RNA-polymerase II phosphorylation) and related anti-apoptotic pathways (Mcl-1 and NFkB).

L-363, RPMI-8226 and U-266 cells were exposed to either DMSO (vehicle control) or serial dilutions of LDC-000067 [0.5–20μM]. Apoptosis was quantified by flow cytometry analyses (FITC Annexin V / propidium iodide staining) after 24 hours in corresponding samples. To further investigate mechanisms of induced apoptosis by LDC-000067 we examined corresponding protein extracts by immunoblot analyses.

We found that LDC-000067 showed anti-myeloma activity in all myeloma cell lines tested. The proportion of induced apoptosis by exposure to LDC-000067 was equipotent (RPMI-8226) or higher (L-363 and U-266) compared to Seliciclib, a selective CDK 2-, 7- and 9-inhibitor. The IC50 for LDC-000067 was 4.0 μmol/L for L-363, 6.9 μmol/L for U-266 and 11.5 μmol/L for RPMI-8226. LDC-000067 inhibited phosphorylation of RNA polymerase II at Ser² of the carboxyl-terminal domain in all MM lines tested. In addition, exposure to LDC-000067 resulted in a rapid decline of the protein levels of Mcl-1, known as an anti-apoptotic protein in MM. Furthermore, it is reported that in 40% of MM cell lines and 17% of MM patients the NFkB pathway is constitutionally activated by mutations (Demchenko et al., 2010) and inhibition of the NFkB activity causes induction of apoptosis (Hongyu et al., 2001). In our study we showed that LDC-000067 potently inhibited the NFkB pathway. Immunoblot analyses revealed a decreased phosphorylation and degradation of the NFkB inhibitor IkBa and an inhibition of phosphorylation of the NFkB subunit RelA (p65). Moreover, our data demonstrated that exposure to LDC-000067 caused a significant reduction of the protein levels of cyclin D1 and cyclin D2 strongly correlated to cell cycle arrest.

In conclusion, our data corroborate that LDC-000067, a novel selective CDK 9-inhibitor, shows anti-myeloma activity by targeting three key pathways in the molecular pathogenesis of MM: firstly, it induces consecutive decline of Mcl-1 protein and inhibition of RNA polymerase II phosphorylation; secondly, it inhibits constitutively activated NFkB pathway; and thirdly, it reduces levels of D-type cyclins.

No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.