Forodesine (Immucillin H, BCX-1777) Shows Activity on Mantle Cell Lymphoma Primary Cells

Mantle cell lymphoma (MCL) represents a subtype of B-cell lymphoma associated with a very unfavourable clinical outcome. Currently no therapy can be considered as standard, and new therapeutic approaches are needed. Forodesine is a potent inhibitor of purine nucleoside phosphorylase (PNP), whose major role is to catalyze the cleavage of inosine, deoxyinosine guanosine, and deoxyguanosine (dGuo) to their corresponding base and sugar 1-phosphate by phosphorolysis. In the presence of deoxycytidine kinase, PNP inhibition leads to an increase in the concentration of dGuo triphosphate (dGTP), followed by inhibition of DNA synthesis and cell death by apoptosis. When combined with dGuo, forodesine has been shown to have in vitro cytotoxic activity on T-cell (T-ALL, T-PLL) and on B-cell malignancies (CLL, B-ALL), and Phase I/II trials are on going in CLL and CTCL patients. Here, we report the first data on in vitro activity of forodesine in MCL. Primary MCL cells, derived from six patients, were exposed to forodesine (0, 2, 20 μM) in combination with dGuo (0, 10, 20 μM), for 48 hrs. Cells were cultured in X-VIVO 10 medium (Cambrex) with 10% FBS. Cell viability was assessed by flow cytometry with the Annexin V - propidium iodide assay. Four patient samples (67%) showed an increase in the number of Annexin V positive cells ranging from 1.9 to 5.3 times compared to untreated cells. The effect was larger for 20 μM forodesine compared with 2 μM. There was no effect of dGuo alone and only a minimal effect of increasing dGuo concentration from 10 μM to 20 μM. Cell lines did not appear to be ideal models to evaluate the efficacy of forodesine in vitro. Three established MCL cell lines (Granta-519, Rec, JeKo1) were treated with escalating doses of forodesine, but the results were not reproducible, while the same cells showed expected IC50 values between 25–30 μM when exposed to bendamustine for 72 hrs. In conclusion, the in vitro data reported here with 4/6 MCL patients primary samples sensitive to forodesine and the results from various groups on other T- and B-cell malignancies suggest that clinical trials of forodesine in MCL may be warranted.