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Gress V, Roussy M, Boulianne L, Bilodeau M, Cardin S, El-Hachem N, Lisi V, Khakipoor B, Rouette A, Farah A, Théret L, Aubert L, Fatima F, Audemard É, Thibault P, Bonneil É, Chagraoui J, Laramée L, Gendron P, Jouan L, Jammali S, Paré B, Simpson SM, Tran TH, Duval M, Teira P, Bittencourt H, Santiago R, Barabé F, Sauvageau G, Smith MA, Hébert J, Roux PP, Gruber TA, Lavallée VP, Wilhelm BT, Cellot S. CBFA2T3::GLIS2 pediatric acute megakaryoblastic leukemia is sensitive to BCL-XL inhibition by navitoclax and DT2216. Blood Adv 2024; 8:112-129. [PMID: 37729615 PMCID: PMC10787250 DOI: 10.1182/bloodadvances.2022008899] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/08/2022] [Revised: 07/25/2023] [Accepted: 09/02/2023] [Indexed: 09/22/2023] Open
Abstract
ABSTRACT Acute megakaryoblastic leukemia (AMKL) is a rare, developmentally restricted, and highly lethal cancer of early childhood. The paucity and hypocellularity (due to myelofibrosis) of primary patient samples hamper the discovery of cell- and genotype-specific treatments. AMKL is driven by mutually exclusive chimeric fusion oncogenes in two-thirds of the cases, with CBFA2T3::GLIS2 (CG2) and NUP98 fusions (NUP98r) representing the highest-fatality subgroups. We established CD34+ cord blood-derived CG2 models (n = 6) that sustain serial transplantation and recapitulate human leukemia regarding immunophenotype, leukemia-initiating cell frequencies, comutational landscape, and gene expression signature, with distinct upregulation of the prosurvival factor B-cell lymphoma 2 (BCL2). Cell membrane proteomic analyses highlighted CG2 surface markers preferentially expressed on leukemic cells compared with CD34+ cells (eg, NCAM1 and CD151). AMKL differentiation block in the mega-erythroid progenitor space was confirmed by single-cell profiling. Although CG2 cells were rather resistant to BCL2 genetic knockdown or selective pharmacological inhibition with venetoclax, they were vulnerable to strategies that target the megakaryocytic prosurvival factor BCL-XL (BCL2L1), including in vitro and in vivo treatment with BCL2/BCL-XL/BCL-W inhibitor navitoclax and DT2216, a selective BCL-XL proteolysis-targeting chimera degrader developed to limit thrombocytopenia in patients. NUP98r AMKL were also sensitive to BCL-XL inhibition but not the NUP98r monocytic leukemia, pointing to a lineage-specific dependency. Navitoclax or DT2216 treatment in combination with low-dose cytarabine further reduced leukemic burden in mice. This work extends the cellular and molecular diversity set of human AMKL models and uncovers BCL-XL as a therapeutic vulnerability in CG2 and NUP98r AMKL.
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Affiliation(s)
- Verena Gress
- Pediatric Hematology-Oncology Division, Charles-Bruneau Cancer Center, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Sainte-Justine Research Center, Montréal, QC, Canada
- Faculty of Medicine, Université de Montréal, Montréal, QC, Canada
| | - Mathieu Roussy
- Pediatric Hematology-Oncology Division, Charles-Bruneau Cancer Center, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Sainte-Justine Research Center, Montréal, QC, Canada
- Faculty of Medicine, Université de Montréal, Montréal, QC, Canada
| | - Luc Boulianne
- Pediatric Hematology-Oncology Division, Charles-Bruneau Cancer Center, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Sainte-Justine Research Center, Montréal, QC, Canada
- Department of Pathology, McGill University, Montréal, QC, Canada
| | - Mélanie Bilodeau
- Pediatric Hematology-Oncology Division, Charles-Bruneau Cancer Center, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Sainte-Justine Research Center, Montréal, QC, Canada
| | - Sophie Cardin
- Pediatric Hematology-Oncology Division, Charles-Bruneau Cancer Center, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Sainte-Justine Research Center, Montréal, QC, Canada
| | - Nehme El-Hachem
- Pediatric Hematology-Oncology Division, Charles-Bruneau Cancer Center, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Sainte-Justine Research Center, Montréal, QC, Canada
| | - Véronique Lisi
- Pediatric Hematology-Oncology Division, Charles-Bruneau Cancer Center, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Sainte-Justine Research Center, Montréal, QC, Canada
| | - Banafsheh Khakipoor
- Pediatric Hematology-Oncology Division, Charles-Bruneau Cancer Center, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Sainte-Justine Research Center, Montréal, QC, Canada
| | - Alexandre Rouette
- Molecular Diagnostic Laboratory, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Sainte-Justine, Montréal, QC, Canada
| | - Azer Farah
- Pediatric Hematology-Oncology Division, Charles-Bruneau Cancer Center, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Sainte-Justine Research Center, Montréal, QC, Canada
| | - Louis Théret
- Institute for Research in Immunology and Cancer, Université de Montréal, Montréal, QC, Canada
| | - Léo Aubert
- Institute for Research in Immunology and Cancer, Université de Montréal, Montréal, QC, Canada
| | - Furat Fatima
- Pediatric Hematology-Oncology Division, Charles-Bruneau Cancer Center, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Sainte-Justine Research Center, Montréal, QC, Canada
- Department of Pathology, McGill University, Montréal, QC, Canada
| | - Éric Audemard
- Institute for Research in Immunology and Cancer, Université de Montréal, Montréal, QC, Canada
| | - Pierre Thibault
- Institute for Research in Immunology and Cancer, Université de Montréal, Montréal, QC, Canada
| | - Éric Bonneil
- Institute for Research in Immunology and Cancer, Université de Montréal, Montréal, QC, Canada
| | - Jalila Chagraoui
- Molecular Genetics of Stem Cells Laboratory, Institute for Research in Immunology and Cancer, Montréal, Québec, Canada
| | - Louise Laramée
- Pediatric Hematology-Oncology Division, Charles-Bruneau Cancer Center, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Sainte-Justine Research Center, Montréal, QC, Canada
| | - Patrick Gendron
- Institute for Research in Immunology and Cancer, Université de Montréal, Montréal, QC, Canada
| | - Loubna Jouan
- Molecular Diagnostic Laboratory, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Sainte-Justine, Montréal, QC, Canada
| | - Safa Jammali
- Pediatric Hematology-Oncology Division, Charles-Bruneau Cancer Center, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Sainte-Justine Research Center, Montréal, QC, Canada
| | - Bastien Paré
- Pediatric Hematology-Oncology Division, Charles-Bruneau Cancer Center, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Sainte-Justine Research Center, Montréal, QC, Canada
| | - Shawn M Simpson
- Pediatric Hematology-Oncology Division, Charles-Bruneau Cancer Center, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Sainte-Justine Research Center, Montréal, QC, Canada
| | - Thai Hoa Tran
- Pediatric Hematology-Oncology Division, Charles-Bruneau Cancer Center, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Sainte-Justine Research Center, Montréal, QC, Canada
- Faculty of Medicine, Université de Montréal, Montréal, QC, Canada
| | - Michel Duval
- Pediatric Hematology-Oncology Division, Charles-Bruneau Cancer Center, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Sainte-Justine Research Center, Montréal, QC, Canada
- Faculty of Medicine, Université de Montréal, Montréal, QC, Canada
| | - Pierre Teira
- Pediatric Hematology-Oncology Division, Charles-Bruneau Cancer Center, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Sainte-Justine Research Center, Montréal, QC, Canada
- Faculty of Medicine, Université de Montréal, Montréal, QC, Canada
| | - Henrique Bittencourt
- Pediatric Hematology-Oncology Division, Charles-Bruneau Cancer Center, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Sainte-Justine Research Center, Montréal, QC, Canada
- Faculty of Medicine, Université de Montréal, Montréal, QC, Canada
| | - Raoul Santiago
- Division of Hematology-Oncology, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Québec-Université Laval, Québec City, QC, Canada
- Centre de recherche du Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Québec-Université Laval, Québec City, QC, Canada
| | - Frédéric Barabé
- Centre de recherche du Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Québec-Université Laval, Québec City, QC, Canada
- Department of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Université Laval, Québec City, QC, Canada
| | - Guy Sauvageau
- Faculty of Medicine, Université de Montréal, Montréal, QC, Canada
- Molecular Genetics of Stem Cells Laboratory, Institute for Research in Immunology and Cancer, Montréal, Québec, Canada
- Division of Hematology, Maisonneuve-Rosemont Hospital, Montréal, QC, Canada
| | - Martin A Smith
- Pediatric Hematology-Oncology Division, Charles-Bruneau Cancer Center, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Sainte-Justine Research Center, Montréal, QC, Canada
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Université de Montréal, Montréal, QC, Canada
| | - Josée Hébert
- Faculty of Medicine, Université de Montréal, Montréal, QC, Canada
- Division of Hematology-Oncology and Quebec Leukemia Cell Bank, Hôpital Maisonneuve-Rosemont, Montréal, QC, Canada
| | - Philippe P Roux
- Faculty of Medicine, Université de Montréal, Montréal, QC, Canada
- Institute for Research in Immunology and Cancer, Université de Montréal, Montréal, QC, Canada
- Department of Pathology and Cell Biology, Faculty of Medicine, Université de Montréal, Montréal, QC, Canada
| | - Tanja A Gruber
- Department of Pediatrics, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA
- Stanford Cancer Institute, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA
| | - Vincent-Philippe Lavallée
- Pediatric Hematology-Oncology Division, Charles-Bruneau Cancer Center, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Sainte-Justine Research Center, Montréal, QC, Canada
- Faculty of Medicine, Université de Montréal, Montréal, QC, Canada
| | - Brian T Wilhelm
- Faculty of Medicine, Université de Montréal, Montréal, QC, Canada
- Institute for Research in Immunology and Cancer, Université de Montréal, Montréal, QC, Canada
| | - Sonia Cellot
- Pediatric Hematology-Oncology Division, Charles-Bruneau Cancer Center, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Sainte-Justine Research Center, Montréal, QC, Canada
- Faculty of Medicine, Université de Montréal, Montréal, QC, Canada
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