Project description:Single-cell RNA-sequencing and other genome-wide approaches were applied to a cohort of CLL patients receiving Venetoclax treatment to study mechanisms of resistance.
Project description:Deep single-cell multi-omic profiling of drug resistance in patients with relapsed or refractory (rr) acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is a promising approach to understand and identify the molecular and cellular determinants of drug resistance. Here, we address this challenge by integrating single-cell ex vivo drug profiling (pharmacoscopy) with both bulk and single-cell resolved DNA, RNA, and protein profiling, as well as clinical annotations across samples of a cohort of 21 rrAML patients. Unsupervised data integration revealed ex vivo response to the Bcl-2 inhibitor venetoclax (VEN) to be significantly reduced in patients treated with the combination of a hypomethylating agent (HMA) and VEN compared to patients pre-exposed to HMA only, while also exposing innate Ven resistance in a subset of VEN-naive patients. Systematic molecular integration retrieved known and novel molecular mechanisms underlying VEN resistance and identified alternative therapeutic strategies in VEN resistant samples, including targeting increased proliferation by PLK inhibitor volasertib. Across data modalities, high CD36 expression on AML blasts was associated with VENres, while CD36-targeted antibody treatment ex vivo revealed striking sensitivity in VEN resistant AML. In summary, we showcase how single-cell multi-omic and functional profiling can facilitate the discovery of drug resistance mechanisms and emergent treatment vulnerabilities. Our dataset represents a comprehensive molecular and functional profiling of rrAML at single-cell resolution, providing a valuable resource for future studies.
Project description:B-cell receptor (BCR) signaling is a central driver in chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), along with activation of pro-survival pathways (e.g., NF- κB) and aberrant anti-apoptotic (e.g., BCL2), culminating to CLL cell survival and drug-resistance. Front-line targeted therapies such as ibrutinib (IBR) and venetoclax (VEN) have radically improved CLL management. Yet, persisting CLL cells lead to relapse in ~20% of patients, signifying the need for alternative therapeutics with novel approaches to CLL cell elimination and overcoming resistance mechanisms. SpiD3 is a novel spirocyclic dimer of analog 19 displaying NF-κB inhibitory activity. Recently, we have shown that SpiD3 inhibits CLL proliferation and induces cytotoxicity, by promoting futile activation of the unfolded response pathway (UPR) and generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS), resulting in insurmountable endoplasmic reticulum stress. RNA-sequencing analysis of IBR- and VEN-resistant CLL cell lines revealed ferroptosis, UPR signaling, and oxidative stress among the top pathways modulated by SpiD3 treatment. By examining SpiD3 induced protein aggregation, ROS production, and ferroptosis in preclinical models of CLL, our data demonstrates marked SpiD3-induced anti-leukemic properties and CLL cell cytotoxicity, including in cell lines resistant to current front-line therapeutics, substantiating the development of SpiD3 as a novel therapeutic approach to management of relapse/refractory CLL disease.
Project description:To elucidate the underlying mechanisms of resistance to venetoclax and dexitabine combination therapy, we performed transcriptomic analysis of VEN/DEC pre- and post-treatment samples from AML patients enrolled in the DEC10-VEN clinical trial (NCT03404193). We have reported that AML cells from non-responders show a significant upregulation of the mRNA expression of the fatty acid metabolism activator PPARG (Peroxisome Proliferator-Activated Receptor γ) after VEN/DEC treatment.
Project description:Venetoclax (ven) combined with the hypomethylating agent azacytidine (aza) is a widely used therapy for Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML), however, most patients develop resistance. A genome-wide CRISPR screen showed that loss of genes involved in translation conferred sensitivity to ven but not ven+palbo. Accordingly, we show that increased translation occurs after AML cells are challenged with ven, and ven+palbo blocks this increase. We also found that loss of BAX, which leads to ven resistance, was overcome by combination with CDK4/6 inhibitors. Conversely, loss of RB1, a known mechanism of resistance to CDK4/6 inhibitors, was mitigated by ven+palbo. This work suggests that the combination of ven+palbo is a potential novel therapy for AML for potential subpopulations that may benefit the most from this treatment, as well as targeting translation as a means to overcome ven resistance.
Project description:Venetoclax (ven) combined with the hypomethylating agent azacytidine (aza) is a widely used therapy for Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML), however, most patients develop resistance. Using RNASeq, we identified loss of Ikaros (IKZF1) as a potential resistance mechanism to ven+palbo. Examination of cells with IKZF1-loss revealed upregulation of the receptor, AXL, with concordant AXL inhibitor sensitivity in AML tumors harboring IKZF1 mutations. This work suggests that the combination of ven+palbo is a potential novel therapy for AML for potential subpopulations that may benefit the most from this treatment, as well as targeting translation as a means to overcome ven resistance.
Project description:Therapy resistance represents a major clinical challenge in acute myeloid leukemia (AML). Here we define a “MitoScore” signature that identifies high mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation (OxPHOS) in vivo and in AML patients. Primary AML cells with cytarabine (AraC) resistance and high MitoScore relied on mitochondrial Bcl2 and were highly sensitive to venetoclax (VEN) plus AraC (but not to VEN plus azacytidine, AZA). Single-cell transcriptomics of VEN+AraC-residual cell populations revealed adaptive resistance associated with changes in OxPHOS, electron transport chain complex (ETC) and the TP53 pathway.
Project description:Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is a hematopoietic cancer characterized by the proliferation and accumulation of aberrant immature myeloid progenitor blasts in bone marrow and peripheral blood. Venetoclax (VEN), a selective B-cell lymphoma 2 (BCL-2) inhibitor, has received FDA approval for AML treatment in combination with hypomethylating agents (HMA). However, treatment failure and therapy resistance present an urgent need for new therapies to overcome VEN resistance and enhance VEN efficacy. We propose inhibition of SUMOylation as a novel therapy with the potential to address this need. SUMOylation regulates protein function by covalently attaching Small Ubiquitin-like MOdifier (SUMO) proteins to target proteins via an enzymatic cascade. Our study aims to evaluate the effects of SUMOylation inhibition on anti-AML activity of VEN and dissert the underlying mechanism.