Homoharringtonine synergizes with venetoclax in early T cell progenitor acute lymphoblastic leukemia: Bench and bed

Abstract

Background: Early T cell precursor acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ETP-ALL) is a distinct subtype of T-ALL with a poor prognosis. To find a cure, we examined the synergistic effect of homoharringtonine (HHT) in combination with the BCL-2 inhibitor venetoclax (VEN) in ETP-ALL.

Methods: Using in vitro cellular assays and ETP-ALL xenograft models, we first investigated the synergistic activity of HHT and VEN in ETP-ALL. Next, to explore the underlying mechanism, we employed single-cell RNA sequencing of primary ETP-ALL cells treated with HHT or VEN alone or in combination and validated the results with western blot assays. Based on the promising preclinical results and given that both drugs have been approved for clinical use, we then assessed this combination in clinical practice.

Findings: Our results showed that HHT synergizes strongly with VEN both in vitro and in vivo in ETP-ALL. Mechanistic studies demonstrated that the HHT/VEN combination concurrently downregulated key anti-apoptotic proteins, i.e., MCL1, leading to enhanced apoptosis. Importantly, the clinical results were very promising. Six patients with ETP-ALL with either refractory/relapsed (R/R) or newly diagnosed disease were treated with an HHT/VEN-based regimen. All patients achieved complete remission (CR) after only one cycle of treatment.

Conclusions: Our findings demonstrate that a combination of HHT/VEN is effective on ETP-ALL and represents the "backbone" of a promising and safe regimen for newly diagnosed and R/R patients with ETP-ALL.

Funding: This work was funded by the National Cancer Institute, Gehr Family Foundation, George Hoag Family Foundation, National Natural Science Foundation of China, and Key Research and Development Program of Zhejiang Province of China.

Keywords: Translation to patients; early T cell progenitor acute lymphoblastic leukemia; homoharringtonine; venetoclax.