YM155 induces apoptosis through proteasome-dependent degradation of MCL-1 in primary effusion lymphoma.

Primary effusion lymphoma (PEL) is a lymphoma that shows malignant effusion in body cavities without contiguous tumor masses and has a very poor prognosis. We recently developed a novel drug screening system using patient-derived xenograft (PDX) cells that maintained the primary cell phenotype better than cell lines. This screening is expected to discover anti-tumor drugs that have been overlooked by conventional screening using cell lines. We herein performed this screening to identify new therapeutic agents for PEL. We screened 3518 compounds with known pharmaceutical activities based on cytotoxic effects on PDX cells of PEL and selected YM155, a possible survivin inhibitor. It exerted strong anti-tumor effects in PDX cells and three cell lines of PEL; the GI50 of YM155 was 1.2-7.9nM. We found that YM155 reduced myeloid cell leukemia-1 (MCL-1) protein levels prior to decreasing survivin levels, and this was inhibited by a proteasome inhibitor. The knockdown of MCL-1 by siRNA induced cell death in a PEL cell line, suggesting the involvement of decreased MCL-1 levels in YM155-induced cell death. YM155 also induced the phosphorylation of ERK1/2 and MCL-1, and a MEK1 inhibitor inhibited the phosphorylation of ERK1/2, degradation of MCL-1, and YM155-induced apoptosis. These results indicate that YM155 induces the proteasome-dependent degradation of MCL-1 through its phosphorylation by ERK1/2 and causes apoptosis in PEL cells. Furthermore, a treatment with YM155 significantly inhibited the development of ascites in PEL PDX mice. These results suggest the potential of YM155 as an anti-cancer agent for PEL.

The photosensitizer verteporfin has light-independent anti-leukemic activity for Ph-positive acute lymphoblastic leukemia and synergistically works with dasatinib.

Cell lines have been used for drug discovery as useful models of cancers; however, they do not recapitulate cancers faithfully, particularly from the viewpoints of microenvironmental independence. Patient-derived xenografts (PDX) are established by the transfer of primary tumor cells directly from patients into immunodeficient mice and can provide primary-like tumor cells of the amount needed at the desired time. We developed a high-throughput drug screening system using PDX cells and performed drug screening using the PDX cells of Philadelphia chromosome-positive acute lymphoblastic leukemia (Ph+ ALL). We established four Ph+ ALL PDX mice and performed high-throughput screening of 3440 compounds using leukemia cells from the PDX mice (PDX-cell screening). The profiles of drugs selected by PDX-cell screening were markedly different from those by screening using the Ph+ ALL cell line. We found that verteporfin, an FDA-approved drug, exhibited strong PDX cell-specific cytotoxicity. In the validation assay, its GI50 was 228 nM, 395 nM, and 538 nM in three PDX cells and 3.93 µM, 2.11 µM, and 5.61 µM in three cell lines. Although verteporfin is a photosensitizer activated by photoirradiation, its cytotoxic effects were mediated by the light-independent production of reactive oxygen species; therefore, its anti-leukemic effects were also exerted in vivo without photoirradiation. Furthermore, it exhibited synergistic effects with dasatinib, an ABL kinase inhibitor. These results indicated the potential of verteporfin as a new anti-leukemic reagent.