Targeting the mevalonate or Wnt pathways to overcome CAR T-cell resistance in TP53-mutant AML cells

Abstract

TP53-mutant acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and myelodysplastic neoplasms (MDS) are characterized by chemotherapy resistance and represent an unmet clinical need. Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cells might be a promising therapeutic option for TP53-mutant AML/MDS. However, the impact of TP53 deficiency in AML cells on the efficacy of CAR T-cells is unknown. We here show that CAR T-cells engaging TP53-deficient leukemia cells exhibit a prolonged interaction time, upregulate exhaustion markers, and are inefficient to control AML cell outgrowth in vitro and in vivo compared to TP53 wild-type cells. Transcriptional profiling revealed that the mevalonate pathway is upregulated in TP53-deficient AML cells under CAR T-cell attack, while CAR T-cells engaging TP53-deficient AML cells downregulate the Wnt pathway. In vitro rational targeting of either of these pathways rescues AML cell sensitivity to CAR T-cell-mediated killing. We thus demonstrate that TP53 deficiency confers resistance to CAR T-cell therapy and identify the mevalonate pathway as a therapeutic vulnerability of TP53-deficient AML cells engaged by CAR T-cells, and the Wnt pathway as a promising CAR T-cell therapy-enhancing approach for TP53-deficient AML/MDS.