1
|
DA Costa Machado AK, Machado CB, DE Pinho Pessoa FMC, Barreto IV, Gadelha RB, DE Sousa Oliveira D, Ribeiro RM, Lopes GS, DE Moraesfilho MO, DE Moraes MEA, Khayat AS, Moreira-Nunes CA. Development and Clinical Applications of PI3K/AKT/mTOR Pathway Inhibitors as a Therapeutic Option for Leukemias. Cancer Diagn Progn 2024; 4:9-24. [PMID: 38173664 PMCID: PMC10758851 DOI: 10.21873/cdp.10279] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/15/2023] [Accepted: 11/15/2023] [Indexed: 01/05/2024]
Abstract
Leukemias are hematological neoplasms characterized by dysregulations in several cellular signaling pathways, prominently including the PI3K/AKT/mTOR pathway. Since this pathway is associated with several important cellular mechanisms, such as proliferation, metabolism, survival, and cell death, its hyperactivation significantly contributes to the development of leukemias. In addition, it is a crucial prognostic factor, often correlated with therapeutic resistance. Changes in the PI3K/AKT/mTOR pathway are identified in more than 50% of cases of acute leukemia, especially in myeloid lineages. Furthermore, these changes are highly frequent in cases of chronic lymphocytic leukemia, especially those with a B cell phenotype, due to the correlation between the hyperactivation of B cell receptors and the abnormal activation of PI3Kδ. Thus, the search for new therapies that inhibit the activity of the PI3K/AKT/mTOR pathway has become the objective of several clinical studies that aim to replace conventional oncological treatments that have high rates of toxicities and low specificity with target-specific therapies offering improved patient quality of life. In this review we describe the PI3K/AKT/mTOR signal transduction pathway and its implications in leukemogenesis. Furthermore, we provide an overview of clinical trials that employed PI3K/AKT/mTOR inhibitors either as monotherapy or in combination with other cytotoxic agents for treating patients with various types of leukemias. The varying degrees of treatment efficacy are also reported.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Anna Karolyna DA Costa Machado
- Department of Medicine, Pharmacogenetics Laboratory, Drug Research and Development Center (NPDM), Federal University of Ceará, Fortaleza, CE, Brazil
| | - Caio Bezerra Machado
- Department of Medicine, Pharmacogenetics Laboratory, Drug Research and Development Center (NPDM), Federal University of Ceará, Fortaleza, CE, Brazil
| | - Flávia Melo Cunha DE Pinho Pessoa
- Department of Medicine, Pharmacogenetics Laboratory, Drug Research and Development Center (NPDM), Federal University of Ceará, Fortaleza, CE, Brazil
| | - Igor Valentim Barreto
- Department of Medicine, Pharmacogenetics Laboratory, Drug Research and Development Center (NPDM), Federal University of Ceará, Fortaleza, CE, Brazil
| | - Renan Brito Gadelha
- Department of Medicine, Pharmacogenetics Laboratory, Drug Research and Development Center (NPDM), Federal University of Ceará, Fortaleza, CE, Brazil
| | | | | | | | - Manoel Odorico DE Moraesfilho
- Department of Medicine, Pharmacogenetics Laboratory, Drug Research and Development Center (NPDM), Federal University of Ceará, Fortaleza, CE, Brazil
| | - Maria Elisabete Amaral DE Moraes
- Department of Medicine, Pharmacogenetics Laboratory, Drug Research and Development Center (NPDM), Federal University of Ceará, Fortaleza, CE, Brazil
| | - André Salim Khayat
- Department of Biological Sciences, Oncology Research Center, Federal University of Pará, Belém, PA, Brazil
| | - Caroline Aquino Moreira-Nunes
- Department of Medicine, Pharmacogenetics Laboratory, Drug Research and Development Center (NPDM), Federal University of Ceará, Fortaleza, CE, Brazil
- Department of Biological Sciences, Oncology Research Center, Federal University of Pará, Belém, PA, Brazil
- Clementino Fraga Group, Central Unity, Molecular Biology Laboratory, Fortaleza, CE, Brazil
| |
Collapse
|