ZM447439, a Novel Aurora Kinase Inhibitor, Induces Growth Arrest and Apoptosis of Human Leukemia Cells.

The Aurora kinases play an important role in chromosome alignment, segregation, and cytokinesis during mitosis. Aberrant expression of these kinases have been shown in solid tumors and considered to associate with aneuploidy and carcinogenesis. This study found that Aurora kinase A and B were aberrantly expressed in human leukemia cell lines (n=15, e.g., PALL-1, -2, HL-60, NB4, MV4-11, etc.) as well as freshly isolated leukemia cells from individuals with acute myeloid leukemia (n=44) compared to peripheral blood mononuclear cells from healthy volunteers (n=12), as measured by real-time PCR. In addition, ZM447439, a novel selective Aurora kinase inhibitor, induced growth inhibition, accumulation of cells with 4N DNA content and apoptosis in human leukemia cells as measured by thymidine-uptake, cell cycle analysis and annexin V staining, respectively. Especially, profound growth inhibition occurred in PALL-1 and -2 cells which possess wild-type p53 gene. Of note, ZM447439 did not inhibit clonogenic growth of myeloid committed stem cells harvested from healthy volunteers. Taken together, inhibition of Aurora kinase may be a promising treatment strategy for the individuals with leukemia.