|
1
|
Golla U, Ehudin MA, Annageldiyev C, Zeng Z, Bastihalli Tukaramrao D, Tarren A, Date AA, Elcheva I, Berg A, Amin S, Loughran TP, Kester M, Desai D, Dovat S, Claxton D, Sharma A. DJ4 Targets the Rho-Associated Protein Kinase Pathway and Attenuates Disease Progression in Preclinical Murine Models of Acute Myeloid Leukemia. Cancers (Basel) 2021; 13:4889. [PMID: 34638385 PMCID: PMC8508452 DOI: 10.3390/cancers13194889] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/12/2021] [Revised: 09/15/2021] [Accepted: 09/22/2021] [Indexed: 01/22/2023] Open
Abstract
The poor prognosis of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and the highly heterogenous nature of the disease motivates targeted gene therapeutic investigations. Rho-associated protein kinases (ROCKs) are crucial for various actin cytoskeletal changes, which have established malignant consequences in various cancers, yet are still not being successfully utilized clinically towards cancer treatment. This work establishes the therapeutic activity of ROCK inhibitor (5Z)-2-5-(1H-pyrrolo[2,3-b]pyridine-3-ylmethylene)-1,3-thiazol-4(5H)-one (DJ4) in both in vitro and in vivo preclinical models of AML to highlight the potential of this class of inhibitors. Herein, DJ4 induced cytotoxic and proapoptotic effects in a dose-dependent manner in human AML cell lines (IC50: 0.05-1.68 μM) and primary patient cells (IC50: 0.264-13.43 μM); however, normal hematopoietic cells were largely spared. ROCK inhibition by DJ4 disrupts the phosphorylation of downstream targets, myosin light chain (MLC2) and myosin-binding subunit of MLC phosphatase (MYPT), yielding a potent yet selective treatment response at micromolar concentrations, from 0.02 to 1 μM. Murine models injected with luciferase-expressing leukemia cell lines subcutaneously or intravenously and treated with DJ4 exhibited an increase in overall survival and reduction in disease progression relative to the vehicle-treated control mice. Overall, DJ4 is a promising candidate to utilize in future investigations to advance the current AML therapy.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Upendarrao Golla
- Department of Medicine, Division of Hematology and Oncology, Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine, Hershey, PA 17033, USA; (U.G.); (C.A.); (A.T.); (D.C.)
- Penn State Cancer Institute, Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine, Hershey, PA 17033, USA; (A.B.); (S.A.); (D.D.)
| | - Melanie A. Ehudin
- Division of Hematology and Oncology, Department of Pediatrics, Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine, Hershey, PA 17033, USA; (M.A.E.); (D.B.T.); (I.E.)
| | - Charyguly Annageldiyev
- Department of Medicine, Division of Hematology and Oncology, Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine, Hershey, PA 17033, USA; (U.G.); (C.A.); (A.T.); (D.C.)
- Penn State Cancer Institute, Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine, Hershey, PA 17033, USA; (A.B.); (S.A.); (D.D.)
| | - Zheng Zeng
- Department of Pharmacology, Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine, Hershey, PA 17033, USA; (Z.Z.); (M.K.)
| | - Diwakar Bastihalli Tukaramrao
- Division of Hematology and Oncology, Department of Pediatrics, Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine, Hershey, PA 17033, USA; (M.A.E.); (D.B.T.); (I.E.)
| | - Anna Tarren
- Department of Medicine, Division of Hematology and Oncology, Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine, Hershey, PA 17033, USA; (U.G.); (C.A.); (A.T.); (D.C.)
- Penn State Cancer Institute, Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine, Hershey, PA 17033, USA; (A.B.); (S.A.); (D.D.)
| | - Abhijit A. Date
- The Daniel K. Inouye College of Pharmacy, University of Hawaii, Hilo, HI 96720, USA;
| | - Irina Elcheva
- Division of Hematology and Oncology, Department of Pediatrics, Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine, Hershey, PA 17033, USA; (M.A.E.); (D.B.T.); (I.E.)
| | - Arthur Berg
- Penn State Cancer Institute, Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine, Hershey, PA 17033, USA; (A.B.); (S.A.); (D.D.)
| | - Shantu Amin
- Penn State Cancer Institute, Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine, Hershey, PA 17033, USA; (A.B.); (S.A.); (D.D.)
- Department of Pharmacology, Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine, Hershey, PA 17033, USA; (Z.Z.); (M.K.)
| | - Thomas P. Loughran
- Department of Medicine, Division of Hematology and Oncology, University of Virginia School of Medicine, Charlottesville, VA 22903, USA;
- Department of Medicine, Division of Hematology and Oncology, University of Virginia Cancer Center, Charlottesville, VA 22903, USA
| | - Mark Kester
- Department of Pharmacology, Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine, Hershey, PA 17033, USA; (Z.Z.); (M.K.)
- Department of Medicine, Division of Hematology and Oncology, University of Virginia Cancer Center, Charlottesville, VA 22903, USA
| | - Dhimant Desai
- Penn State Cancer Institute, Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine, Hershey, PA 17033, USA; (A.B.); (S.A.); (D.D.)
- Department of Pharmacology, Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine, Hershey, PA 17033, USA; (Z.Z.); (M.K.)
| | - Sinisa Dovat
- Division of Hematology and Oncology, Department of Pediatrics, Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine, Hershey, PA 17033, USA; (M.A.E.); (D.B.T.); (I.E.)
| | - David Claxton
- Department of Medicine, Division of Hematology and Oncology, Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine, Hershey, PA 17033, USA; (U.G.); (C.A.); (A.T.); (D.C.)
- Penn State Cancer Institute, Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine, Hershey, PA 17033, USA; (A.B.); (S.A.); (D.D.)
| | - Arati Sharma
- Department of Medicine, Division of Hematology and Oncology, Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine, Hershey, PA 17033, USA; (U.G.); (C.A.); (A.T.); (D.C.)
- Penn State Cancer Institute, Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine, Hershey, PA 17033, USA; (A.B.); (S.A.); (D.D.)
- Department of Pharmacology, Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine, Hershey, PA 17033, USA; (Z.Z.); (M.K.)
| |
Collapse
|