Abstract 2134: Rational design of selective MNK 1 and 2 kinase inhibitors for the treatment of blast crisis chronic myeloid leukemia patients
Authors: Nacro Kassoum , Yang Haiyan , Ho Melvyn Wai Tuck , Yeap Yoon Sheng , Chennamaneni Lohitha Rao , Ang Shi Hua , Tan Eldwin Sum Wai , Duraiswamy Athisayamani Jeyaraj , Lim Sharon , Liu Boping , Ong Esther Hongqian , Choong Meng Ling , Tai Shi Jing , Manoharan Vithya , Pendharkar Vishal , Ding Lijun , Chew Yun Shan , Joy Joma Kanikadu , Kuan John LW , Kwek Perlyn Z. , Poulsen Anders , Lee May Ann , Sangthongpitag Kanda , Chuah Charles , Ong Tiong S. , Hill Jeffrey , Keller Thomas H. , Matter Alex 
Published: July 2016

The marketed BCR-ABL tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI), imatinib (Gleevec™) is a very successful targeted anti-cancer therapy. It has revolutionized the treatment of early stage or chronic phase (CP) chronic myeloid leukemia (CML). Unfortunately, a proportion of CP patients experience suboptimal responses to BCR-ABL TKIs, and progress to blast crisis (BC) stage of CML with poor survival rate. A potential cause of the resistance to TKI is the elevated level of phosphorylated eukaryotic initiation factor 4E (eIF4E), which has been found to be a consistent feature in patient-derived BC-CML samples. Importantly, both in vivo and in vitro studies have demonstrated that the MAP kinase-interacting serine/threonine-protein kinases 1 and 2 (MNK1/2) phosphorylate eIF4E on Ser209, and that the overexpression of eIF4E drives oncogenesis in a variety of cancers including BC-CML. Furthermore, several reports have indicated that eIF4E phosphorylation at Ser209, as well as eIF4E overexpression, is critical to tumor progression.

We found that a BC-CML cell line, K562, that expresses a serine to alanine phospho-mutant at position 209 of eIF4E, shows reduced ability to form tumors in mice compared to wildtype eIF4E. In addition, our recent work has demonstrated the importance of the MNK-eIF4E axis in activating BC leukemia stem cell (LSC) function (Lim et al., PNAS18; 110(25):E2298-307, 2013). These data highlight the critical importance of MNK1/2-dependent eIF4E phosphorylation in cancer progression and maintenance, and suggests that inhibition of MNK1/2 is an attractive therapeutic approach to treat BC-CML. Consequently, we set out to identify selective inhibitors of the MNK1/2 kinases to treat BC-CML patients.

Here, we report our hit finding strategy, as well as our hit to lead optimization process. Results describing structure activity relationships, pharmacokinetics properties, and biochemical characteristics of a highly specific MNK1/2 inhibitor, are presented. Our data demonstrate that drug-like molecules can be developed to potently and specifically inhibit the MNK kinases. We also show that simultaneous inhibition of MNK and BCR-ABL is effective at inhibiting BCR-ABL-driven growth and proliferation, as well as inhibiting the MNK-eIF4E-dependent self-renewal function of BC-LSCs. A combination of selective MNK and BCR-ABL inhibitors may provide clinical benefit to BC-CML patients.

Citation Format: Kassoum Nacro, Haiyan Yang, Melvyn Wai Tuck Ho, Yoon Sheng Yeap, Lohitha Rao Chennamaneni, Shi Hua Ang, Eldwin Sum Wai Tan, Athisayamani Jeyaraj Duraiswamy, Sharon Lim, Boping Liu, Esther Hongqian Ong, Meng Ling Choong, Shi Jing Tai, Vithya Manoharan, Vishal Pendharkar, Lijun Ding, Yun Shan Chew, Joma Kanikadu Joy, John LW Kuan, Perlyn Z. Kwek, Anders Poulsen, May Ann Lee, Kanda Sangthongpitag, Charles Chuah, Tiong S. Ong, Jeffrey Hill, Thomas H. Keller, Alex Matter. Rational design of selective MNK 1 and 2 kinase inhibitors for the treatment of blast crisis chronic myeloid leukemia patients. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 107th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2016 Apr 16-20; New Orleans, LA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2016;76(14 Suppl):Abstract nr 2134.