Potent efficacy of combined PI3K/mTOR and JAK or ABL inhibition in murine xenograft models of Ph-like acute lymphoblastic leukemia

Abstract

Philadelphia chromosome (Ph)–like B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (Ph-like ALL) is associated with activated JAK/STAT, Abelson kinase (ABL), and/or phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K) signaling and poor clinical outcomes. PI3K pathway signaling inhibitors have been minimally investigated in Ph-like ALL. We hypothesized that targeted inhibition of PI3Ka, PI3Kd, PI3K/mTOR, or target of rapamycin complex 1/2 (TORC1/TORC2) would decrease leukemia proliferation and abrogate aberrant kinase signaling and that combined PI3K pathway and JAK inhibition or PI3K pathway and SRC/ABL inhibition would have superior efficacy compared to inhibitor monotherapy. We treated 10 childhood ALL patient-derived xenograft models harboring various Ph-like genomic alterations with 4 discrete PI3K pathway protein inhibitors and observed marked leukemia reduction and in vivo signaling inhibition in all models. Treatment with dual PI3K/mTOR inhibitor gedatolisib resulted in near eradication of ALL in cytokine receptor-like factor 2 (CRLF2)/JAK-mutant models with mean 92.2% (range, 86.0%-99.4%) reduction vs vehicle controls (P