Role of different aberrant cell signalling pathways prevalent in acute lymphoblastic leukemia

Not only a therapeutic target; mTOR in Hodgkin lymphoma and acute lymphoblastic leukemia

Introduction

The mechanistic/mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) is a serine/threonine kinase, which is downregulated or upregulated and is implicated in different types of cancer including hematologic neoplasms, skin prostate, and head and neck cancer.

Aim

The aim of this study was to explore the current knowledge of mTOR signaling in acute lymphoblastic leukemia and Hodgkin lymphoma.

Methods

A systematic review was performed according to Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines, searching PubMed, Discovery Service for National Autonomous University of Mexico, Registro Nacional de Instituciones y Empresas Científicas y Tecnológicas (RENIECYT), and Scientific Electronic Library Online (SciELO) from 1994 to 2023. A total of 269 papers were identified for acute lymphoblastic leukemia, but based on specific criteria, 15 were included; for Hodgkin lymphoma, 110 papers were identified, but 5 were included after manual searching.

Results

A total of 20 papers were evaluated, where mTOR activity is increased in patients with Hodgkin lymphoma and acute lymphoblastic leukemia by different molecular mechanisms.

Conclusions

mTOR activity is increased in patients with both hematologic neoplasms and NOTCH; interleukin 4, 7, and 9, and nuclear proteins have been studied for their role in the activation of mTOR signaling.

A Novel Compound Plumercine from Plumeria alba Exhibits Promising Anti-Leukemic Efficacies against B Cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia

The current study was focused to evaluate the antioxidant and the anti-cancerous properties of Plumeria alba. Plumeria alba was chosen due to its existing medicinal values. Antioxidant assays like Superoxide radical scavenging assay, Nitrous Oxide radical scavenging assay, were performed, on the methanolic and ethyl acetate extracts of the plant, that depicts the pro-oxidant nature of the extract. Further, they were tested to check cell viability on B cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL) Cell line (NALM 6), human lung cancer cell line (A549), T cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia cell line (MOLT4), and PBMC isolated from normal donors utilizing MTT assay. Robust anti-proliferative activity was observed in the case of NALM 6 followed by A549, MOLT4, whereas negligible activity was observed in the case of PBMC. Intrigued by this finding, in silico docking was performed using three bioactive compounds namely Plumericine, Isoplumericine, and 13-O-p-Coumaroylplumieride, unique to Plumeria sp. They were docked against five different cyclins and Cdk proteins responsible for ALL. The compounds have shown satisfactory results and their druggability and ADMET properties were checked further. Plumercine turned out to be the most competent compound and hence can be considered as a potential leukemic drug candidate in the future.