Erythroid/megakaryocytic differentiation confers BCL-XL dependency and venetoclax resistance in acute myeloid leukemia

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Volume Title
A1 Alkuperäisartikkeli tieteellisessä aikakauslehdessä
Date
2023-03-30
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Language
en
Pages
16
1610-1625
Series
BLOOD, Volume 141, issue 13
Abstract
Myeloid neoplasms with erythroid or megakaryocytic differentiation include pure erythroid leukemia, myelodysplastic syndrome with erythroid features, and acute megakaryoblastic leukemia (FAB M7) and are characterized by poor prognosis and limited treatment options. Here, we investigate the drug sensitivity landscape of these rare malignancies. We show that acute myeloid leukemia (AML) cells with erythroid or megakaryocytic differentiation depend on the antiapoptotic protein B-cell lymphoma (BCL)-XL, rather than BCL-2, using combined ex vivo drug sensitivity testing, genetic perturbation, and transcriptomic profiling. High-throughput screening of >500 compounds identified the BCL-XL–selective inhibitor A-1331852 and navitoclax as highly effective against erythroid/megakaryoblastic leukemia cell lines. In contrast, these AML subtypes were resistant to the BCL-2 inhibitor venetoclax, which is used clinically in the treatment of AML. Consistently, genome-scale CRISPR-Cas9 and RNAi screening data demonstrated the striking essentiality of BCL-XL-encoding BCL2L1 but not BCL2 or MCL1, for the survival of erythroid/megakaryoblastic leukemia cell lines. Single-cell and bulk transcriptomics of patient samples with erythroid and megakaryoblastic leukemias identified high BCL2L1 expression compared with other subtypes of AML and other hematological malignancies, where BCL2 and MCL1 were more prominent. BCL-XL inhibition effectively killed blasts in samples from patients with AML with erythroid or megakaryocytic differentiation ex vivo and reduced tumor burden in a mouse erythroleukemia xenograft model. Combining the BCL-XL inhibitor with the JAK inhibitor ruxolitinib showed synergistic and durable responses in cell lines. Our results suggest targeting BCL-XL as a potential therapy option in erythroid/megakaryoblastic leukemias and highlight an AML subgroup with potentially reduced sensitivity to venetoclax-based treatments.
Description
Funding Information: This study was supported by the Cancer Foundation Finland, the Helsinki Institute of Life Science (HiLIFE) Fellow grants, the Academy of Finland (grant 1320185 ), the Sigrid Jusélius Foundation , the Finnish Cancer Institute , the Finnish Medical Foundation , University of Helsinki , and the Finnish special governmental subsidy for health sciences, research, and training . The FIMM High Throughput Biomedicine Unit is financially supported by the University of Helsinki (HiLIFE) and Biocenter Finland. O.D. was supported by the K. Albin Johansson Foundation , the Emil Aaltonen Foundation , and the Juhani Aho foundation . Publisher Copyright: © 2023 The American Society of Hematology
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Kuusanmäki, H, Dufva, O, Vähä-Koskela, M, Leppä, A M, Huuhtanen, J, Vänttinen, I, Nygren, P, Klievink, J, Bouhlal, J, Pölönen, P, Zhang, Q, Adnan-Awad, S, Mancebo-Pérez, C, Saad, J, Miettinen, J, Javarappa, K K, Aakko, S, Ruokoranta, T, Eldfors, S, Heinäniemi, M, Theilgaard-Mönch, K, Wartiovaara-Kautto, U, Keränen, M, Porkka, K, Konopleva, M, Wennerberg, K, Kontro, M, Heckman, C A & Mustjoki, S 2023, ' Erythroid/megakaryocytic differentiation confers BCL-XL dependency and venetoclax resistance in acute myeloid leukemia ', Blood, vol. 141, no. 13, pp. 1610-1625 . https://doi.org/10.1182/blood.2021011094