Inhibition of BIRC5 and MCL-1 as potential treatment strategy to overcome drug resistance in Mantle Cell Lymphoma

Mantle cell lymphoma (MCL) is a difficult-to-cure, highly heterogeneous, and aggressive form of non-Hodgkin lymphoma with a high recurrence rate and poor long-term prognosis. Differential response to primary/standard-of-care therapies, including BTKi (Bruton’s tyrosine kinase inhibitors) and Proteasome inhibitors (PIs), and dose-limiting toxicities are significant causes of concern.

We have designed a novel optimization-regularization-based computational prediction algorithm called “secDrug” to identify novel secondary therapeutic targets for the management of treatment-resistant cancers. Previously, we have demonstrated that several secDrug candidates indeed show significant cytotoxicity as single agents and in combination with primary drugs against in vitro and ex vivo models representing relapsed/refractory (R/R) forms of cancers. When applied to B-cell malignancies, the secDrug algorithm predicted the pro-survival proteins Survivin/BIRC5 and MCL-1 as top secondary drug targets. Interestingly, both Survivin and MCL-1 are reported to be over-expressed in MCL, and their expression is strongly correlated with the oncogenic progression and survivability of the patients.

Using single-cell RNA sequencing (single-cell transcriptomics/scRNAseq)-based screening, we identified enrichment of these target genes in single-cell clusters representing drug resistance, which was further confirmed through gene knockdown studies. Next, we performed in vitro cytotoxicity analysis and cell-based assays on a panel of MCL cell lines representing PI/BTKi sensitive, innate resistance (representing refractory MCL), and clonally-derived acquired resistance (representing relapsed MCL) and demonstrated that YM155, a Survivin /BIRC5 suppressor and S63845, an inhibitor of MCL-1, are effective in killing MCL cells as single agents as well as in combination with Bortezomib (PI) and Ibrutinib (BTKi). Most importantly, secDrug-secDrug combination as a dual inhibition strategy was highly effective in MCL cell lines. Next, we performed next-generation RNA sequencing and pathway analysis to identify genes and networks associated with mechanisms of secDrug action and synergy, including mitochondrial depolarization, mTOR signaling, and targeting the hallmarks of “cancer stemness”. Finally, in silico analysis using patient data underlined the clinical potential of these secDrug candidates.

Our study thus showed that small molecular inhibitors of BIRC5 and MCL-1 are useful in curbing the progression of MCL and abrogating drug resistance through simultaneous inhibition of multiple oncogenic factors/pathways.