Abstract 803: Bromodomain and extra-terminal BET inhibitors induce TP53 independent apoptosis, maturation and oncoprotein degradation in NPM1 mutated acute myeloid leukemia
Authors: Braun Thorsten , Coudé Marie-Magdelaine , Berrou Jeannig , Djamai Hanene , Dupont Mélanie , Kaci Anna , Delord Marc , Itzykson Raphael , Raffoux Emmanuel , Berthier Caroline , Thé Hugues de , Baruchel André , Gardin Claude , Dombret Hervé 
Published: August 2018

Background: Differentiation based therapy by all trans retinoic acid (ATRA) and arsenic trioxide (ATO) results in cure of &gt;90% of patients with acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL). ATRA+ATO is highly biologically active in NPM1c AML, accounting for 30-40% of AML patients. ATO/ATRA induces proteasomal degradation of NPM1c, differentiation, growth arrest and TP53 dependent apoptosis in NPM1c cells. Furthermore, ATRA/ATO exposure restores nuclear localization of NPM1wt and significantly reduces blasts in NPMc AML patients. It was shown that the BET inhibitors OTX015/MK-8628 and JQ1 yield antileukemic activity and here we demonstrate their effects in NPM1c leukemia cells compared to ATRA/ATO. Methods : NPMc OCI-AML3 cell line or patient bone marrow (BM) blast cells obtained after informed consent were exposed to ATRA/ATO or OTX015/MK-8628 and JQ1. Apoptosis was assessed by annexin V/PI and caspase 3/PARP cleavage by WB. TP53 expression was detected by WB. Knock down of TP53 was performed with siRNA. Differentiation of OCI-AML3 cells was studied by CD11b surface expression and morphologic studies after MGG stain. Gene expression profiling was performed with GeneChip Array (Affymetrix®). NPMc expression was assessed by WB (+/- bortezomib) and cellular localization of NPMc/NPMwt was studied by immunofluorescence. Results : Exposure of OCI-AML3 cells to OTX015/MK-8628 and JQ1 was more potent to induce apoptosis as compared to ATRA/ATO. All treatments lead to caspase 3 and PARP cleavage. In OCI-AML3 cells, ATO-ATRA induced strong upregulation of genes of the TP53 dependent pathway (BAX/GADD45) while the anti apoptotic gene BCL2 was downregulated. In contrast, treatment with BET inhibitors lead to strong down regulation of the TP53 dependent pathway. In line, ATRA/ATO induced TP53 protein expression and TP53 knock down by siRNA decreased significantly ATRA/ATO induced apoptosis suggesting that apoptosis induced by BET inhibitors is TP53 independent. As compared to ATRA/ATO, OTX015/MK-8628 and JQ1 were more potent to induce differentiation as detected by CD11b surface expression and by morphologic analysis of OCI-AML3 cells. Interestingly, gene expression profiling of human leukocyte differentiation pathways in OCI-AML3 cells revealed different expression profiles for exposure to BET inhibitors compared to ATRA/ATO. Treatment of OCI-AML3 cells either by OTX015/MK8628, JQ1 or ATRA/ATO lead to proteosomal degradation of the NPMc protein. Exposure of OCI-AML3 cells and primary BM blasts of patients either by OTX015/MK8628, JQ1 or ATRA/ATO led to nuclear relocalization of NPMwt protein to the nucleus. Conclusion : BET inhibitors induce TP53 independent apoptosis, differentiation, proteasomal degradation and NPMwt relocalization in NPMc cells. Thus, clinical testing of bromodomain inhibitors in NPMc AML is indicated.

Citation Format: Thorsten Braun, Marie-Magdelaine Coudé, Jeannig Berrou, Hanene Djamai, Mélanie Dupont, Anna Kaci, Marc Delord, Raphael Itzykson, Emmanuel Raffoux, Caroline Berthier, Hugues de Thé, André Baruchel, Claude Gardin, Hervé Dombret. Bromodomain and extra-terminal BET inhibitors induce TP53 independent apoptosis, maturation and oncoprotein degradation in NPM1 mutated acute myeloid leukemia [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2018; 2018 Apr 14-18; Chicago, IL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2018;78(13 Suppl):Abstract nr 803.