Kinetin Riboside Is a Novel Targeted Inhibitor of CCND1 and CCND2 Transactivation with Substantial Preclinical Anti-Myeloma Activity.
Authors: Tiedemann Rodger E. , Mao Xinliang , Marler Ronald J. , Reeder Craig B. , Schimmer Aaron , Stewart Keith 
Published: October 2019

Multiple myeloma tumors universally target one of the three human cyclin D genes (CCND1, CCND2 or CCND3) for dysregulation (Bergsagel et al., 2005, Blood;106:296). To identify novel pharmaceutical inhibitors of cyclin D2 (CCND2) transactivation we therefore screened the Lopac, Prestwick and Spectrum libraries of drugs and natural compounds (n>4000) using NIH 3T3 cells stably expressing the CCND2 promoter driving a luciferase reporter gene. From this library screen and subsequent validation experiments we identified Kinetin riboside, a nucleoside analogue and plant cytokinin hormone, as a novel inhibitor of CCND1+CCND2 transactivation. By immunoblotting, Kinetin riboside induced rapid suppression of cyclin D1 and D2 proteins (<6 hours) in H929, JJN3, Kms11 and U266 human myeloma cell lines (HMCL) that all over-express either cyclin D1 or D2 due to a range of transforming events relevant to myeloma (including deregulation of FGFR3, MMSET or c-Maf oncogenes, or translocation of CCND1 to the IgH locus). Similar results were obtained in primary CD138+ purified myeloma cells from 5/6 patients. To verify that cyclin D1 and D2 suppression induced by Kinetin riboside is a direct effect and does not occur secondary to cellular arrest in S-phase (when cyclin D protein levels decline) we examined the effects of Kinetin riboside on the cell cycle profile of HMCL. Within 20 hours Kinetin riboside caused the proportion of cells entering S-phase to fall by 50–70% in all HMCL tested, consistent with primary cyclin D suppression and secondary G0/G1 arrest. By MTT assay, Kinetin riboside is cytotoxic to HMCL with an IC50 of <1.7 mg/L (5uM) in 8/12 lines and <5mg/L (15uM) in 11/12 HMCL. By comparison, toxicity studies in Balb/c mice confirm that Kinetin riboside is tolerated in vivo at a dose of 80–100mg/kg i.p. or 25mg/kg i.v. Importantly, Kinetin riboside shows potent synergy with dexamethasone in HMCL that are poorly responsive to one or other agent and Kinetin riboside activity persists during co-culture with myeloma growth factors IL-6, IGF-1 and Baff. Moreover, when tested against unsorted patient bone marrow samples, Kinetin riboside preferentially killed CD138+ myeloma cells at up to 5–8 fold greater rate than normal marrow progenitors. Kinetin riboside induced myeloma cell death is mediated by apoptosis and is associated with caspase 9 cleavage and annexin V binding. Mechanistically, we show that kinetin riboside blocks CCND2 promoter transactivation induced by cAMP or by regulatory phosphoproteins (activated by Forskolin or the PP2A inhibitor, Cantharadin, respectively) and also blocks cis-activation of CCND1 induced by translocation to the IgH enhancer and trans-activation of CCND2 induced by cMaf or FGFR3 over-expression, indicating that kinetin riboside acts at a distal level to block transactivation of CCND1+CCND2 induced by multiple factors. Gene expression profiling reveals that KinR causes rapid induction of the transcriptional repressor, cAMP Response Element Modifier (CREM), which has been reported to bind the cyclin D2 promoter to regulate cyclin D2 expression (Muniz, 2006, Biol Reprod.), providing a putative mechanism for targeted suppression of CCND1+CCND2. Together these studies demonstrate a novel targeted mechanism and substantial pre-clinical activity for kinetin riboside and provide a rationale for clinical evaluation of this drug to improve the outcome of multiple myeloma.