Activity of the Aurora kinase inhibitor VX-680 against Bcr/Abl-positive acute lymphoblastic leukemias

Mol Cancer Ther. 2010 May;9(5):1318-27. doi: 10.1158/1535-7163.MCT-10-0069. Epub 2010 Apr 13.

Abstract

The emergence of resistance to tyrosine kinase inhibitors due to point mutations in Bcr/Abl is a challenging problem for Philadelphia chromosome-positive (Ph-positive) acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) patients, especially for those with the T315I mutation, against which neither nilotinib or dasatinib shows significant activity. VX-680 is a pan-Aurora kinase inhibitor active against all Bcr/Abl proteins but has not been extensively examined in preclinical models of Ph-positive ALL. Here, we have tested VX-680 for the treatment of Bcr/Abl-positive ALL when leukemic cells are protected by the presence of stroma. Under these conditions, VX-680 showed significant effects on primary human Ph-positive ALL cells both with and without the T315I mutation, including ablation of tyrosine phosphorylation downstream of Bcr/Abl, decreased viability, and induction of apoptosis. However, drug treatment of human Ph-positive ALL cells for 3 days followed by drug removal allowed the outgrowth of abnormal cells 21 days later, and on culture of mouse Bcr/Abl ALL cells on stroma with lower concentrations of VX-680, drug-resistant cells emerged. Combined treatment of human ALL cells lacking the T315I mutation with both VX-680 and dasatinib caused significantly more cytotoxicity than each drug alone. We suggest that use of VX-680 together with a second effective drug as first-line treatment for Ph-positive ALL is likely to be safer and more useful than second-line treatment with VX-680 as monotherapy for drug-resistant T315I Ph-positive ALL.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Antineoplastic Agents / administration & dosage
  • Antineoplastic Agents / pharmacology
  • Apoptosis / drug effects
  • Aurora Kinases
  • Cells, Cultured
  • Dasatinib
  • Drug Evaluation, Preclinical
  • Drug Resistance, Neoplasm / drug effects
  • Embryo, Mammalian
  • Fusion Proteins, bcr-abl / genetics*
  • Fusion Proteins, bcr-abl / metabolism
  • Humans
  • Mice
  • Mice, Knockout
  • Piperazines / administration & dosage
  • Piperazines / pharmacology*
  • Precursor Cell Lymphoblastic Leukemia-Lymphoma / genetics
  • Precursor Cell Lymphoblastic Leukemia-Lymphoma / metabolism
  • Precursor Cell Lymphoblastic Leukemia-Lymphoma / pathology*
  • Protein Kinase Inhibitors / pharmacology*
  • Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases / antagonists & inhibitors*
  • Pyrimidines / administration & dosage
  • Pyrimidines / pharmacology
  • Thiazoles / administration & dosage
  • Thiazoles / pharmacology
  • Treatment Outcome

Substances

  • Antineoplastic Agents
  • Piperazines
  • Protein Kinase Inhibitors
  • Pyrimidines
  • Thiazoles
  • tozasertib
  • Fusion Proteins, bcr-abl
  • Aurora Kinases
  • Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases
  • Dasatinib