HSP90 inhibition results in apoptosis of Philadelphia acute lymphoblastic leukaemia cells: an attractive prospect of new targeted agents.

PURPOSE: HSP90 targeting is a promising therapeutic approach in cancer. 17-AAG is an HSP90 inhibitor with completed Phase I trials in patients with advanced cancer and recently published Phase II trials. The aim of this work was to study the expression of HSP 90 and apoptotic proteins, the effects in culture of 17-AAG on cell survival and apoptosis and to compare Philadelphia-positive (Ph+) ALL to common B cell ALL, in ALL cell lines and in patients' cells collected at ALL diagnosis.

METHODS: We analysed 2 ALL cell lines and 63 leukaemic samples from patients treated in our institution (44 common B cell ALL and 19 Ph+ ALL). We performed flow cytometry analysis of bone marrow aspiration and cell lines with a combination of anti-HSP90, Bax, Bcl-2 and Bcl-xl antibodies. Apoptosis after cell culture (in presence or not of 17-AAG) was assessed using Annexin V and activated caspase-3 staining.

RESULTS: Ph+ ALL cells appeared to be more sensitive to 17-AAG cytotoxicity with a 100 % mortality rate after exposure to 10 μM for 24 h (vs. 62 % for B-common ALL). A high percentage of HSP90-positive cells (in Ph+ ALL samples) was associated with high sensitivity to 17-AAG. 17-AAG induced apoptosis in a dose-dependent manner and was associated with down-regulation of Bcl-2 and Bcl-Xl expression and up-regulation of Bax expression.

CONCLUSION: Considering that Bcr-Abl constitutes HSP 90 substrates, HSP 90 inhibition could be of particular interest for Ph+ ALL disease, even in patients harbouring resistance to tyrosine kinase inhibitor therapy.