Department of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, Ulm University Medical Center, Ulm, Germany.
International Graduate School in Molecular Medicine, Ulm University, Ulm, Germany.
Cell Death Dis. 2024 Jul 3;15(7):475. doi: 10.1038/s41419-024-06864-7.
Deregulated apoptosis signaling is characteristic for many cancers and contributes to leukemogenesis and treatment failure in B-cell precursor acute lymphoblastic leukemia (BCP-ALL). Apoptosis is controlled by different pro- and anti-apoptotic molecules. Inhibition of anti-apoptotic molecules like B-cell lymphoma 2 (BCL-2) has been developed as therapeutic strategy. Venetoclax (VEN), a selective BCL-2 inhibitor has shown clinical activity in different lymphoid malignancies and is currently evaluated in first clinical trials in BCP-ALL. However, insensitivity to VEN has been described constituting a major clinical concern. Here, we addressed and modeled VEN-resistance in BCP-ALL, investigated the underlying mechanisms in cell lines and patient-derived xenograft (PDX) samples and identified potential strategies to overcome VEN-insensitivity. Leukemia lines with VEN-specific resistance were generated in vitro and further characterized using RNA-seq analysis. Interestingly, gene sets annotated to the citric/tricarboxylic acid cycle and the respiratory electron transport chain were significantly enriched and upregulated, indicating increased mitochondrial metabolism in VEN-resistant ALL. Metabolic profiling showed sustained high mitochondrial metabolism in VEN-resistant lines as compared to control lines. Accordingly, primary PDX-ALL samples with intrinsic VEN-insensitivity showed higher oxygen consumption and ATP production rates, further highlighting that increased mitochondrial activity is a characteristic feature of VEN-resistant ALL. VEN-resistant PDX-ALL showed significant higher mitochondrial DNA content and differed in mitochondria morphology with significantly larger and elongated structures, further corroborating our finding of augmented mitochondrial metabolism upon VEN-resistance. Using Oligomycin, an inhibitor of the complex V/ATPase subunit, we found synergistic activity and apoptosis induction in VEN-resistant BCP-ALL cell lines and PDX samples, demonstrating that acquired and intrinsic VEN-insensitivity can be overcome by co-targeting BCL-2 and the OxPhos pathway. These findings of reprogrammed, high mitochondrial metabolism in VEN-resistance and synergistic activity upon co-targeting BCL-2 and oxidative phosphorylation strongly suggest further preclinical and potential clinical evaluation in VEN-resistant BCP-ALL.
细胞凋亡信号的失调是许多癌症的特征,并导致 B 细胞前体急性淋巴细胞白血病(BCP-ALL)的白血病发生和治疗失败。细胞凋亡受不同的促凋亡和抗凋亡分子控制。抑制抗凋亡分子,如 B 细胞淋巴瘤 2(BCL-2),已被开发为治疗策略。Venetoclax(VEN),一种选择性 BCL-2 抑制剂,在不同的淋巴恶性肿瘤中显示出临床活性,目前正在 BCP-ALL 的首次临床试验中进行评估。然而,已经描述了对 VEN 的不敏感性,这构成了一个主要的临床关注。在这里,我们解决了 BCP-ALL 中的 VEN 耐药性问题,并在细胞系和患者来源的异种移植(PDX)样本中研究了潜在的机制,并确定了克服 VEN 不敏感性的潜在策略。在体外生成了具有 VEN 特异性耐药性的白血病细胞系,并进一步通过 RNA-seq 分析进行了表征。有趣的是,注释为柠檬酸/三羧酸循环和呼吸电子传递链的基因集显著富集和上调,表明 VEN 耐药 ALL 中的线粒体代谢增加。代谢谱显示,与对照细胞系相比,VEN 耐药细胞系中的线粒体代谢持续较高。相应地,具有内在 VEN 不敏感性的原发性 PDX-ALL 样本显示出更高的耗氧量和 ATP 产生率,进一步强调了增加的线粒体活性是 VEN 耐药 ALL 的特征。VEN 耐药的 PDX-ALL 显示出显著更高的线粒体 DNA 含量,并且在形态上表现出更大和更长的结构,这进一步证实了我们在 VEN 耐药时发现的增加的线粒体代谢。使用寡霉素,一种复合物 V/ATP 酶亚基的抑制剂,我们发现 VEN 耐药的 BCP-ALL 细胞系和 PDX 样本中存在协同作用和凋亡诱导,表明获得性和内在的 VEN 不敏感性可以通过共同靶向 BCL-2 和 OxPhos 途径来克服。这些关于 VEN 耐药性中重新编程的、高线粒体代谢和共同靶向 BCL-2 和氧化磷酸化的协同作用的发现强烈表明,在 VEN 耐药的 BCP-ALL 中进行进一步的临床前和潜在的临床评估。