Chidamide inhibits the NOTCH1-MYC signaling axis in T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia
Mengping Xi1,2, Shanshan Guo1,2, Caicike Bayin1,2, Lijun peng1,2, Florent Chuffart2,3, Ekaterina Bourova-Flin2,3, Sophie Rousseaux2,3(), Saadi Khochbin2,3(), Jian-Qing Mi1,2(), Jin Wang1,2()
1. Shanghai Institute of Hematology, State Key Laboratory of Medical Genomics, National Research Center for Translational Medicine at Shanghai, Ruijin Hospital Affiliated to Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai 200025, China 2. Pôle de Recherches Sino-Français en Science du Vivant et Génomique, Shanghai 200025, China 3. CNRS UMR 5309/INSERM U1209/Université Grenoble Alpes/Institute for Advanced Biosciences, 38706 La Tronche, France
T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL) is one of the most dangerous hematological malignancies, with high tumor heterogeneity and poor prognosis. More than 60% of T-ALL patients carry NOTCH1 gene mutations, leading to abnormal expression of downstream target genes and aberrant activation of various signaling pathways. We found that chidamide, an HDAC inhibitor, exerts an antitumor effect on T-ALL cell lines and primary cells including an anti-NOTCH1 activity. In particular, chidamide inhibits the NOTCH1-MYC signaling axis by down-regulating the level of the intracellular form of NOTCH1 (NICD1) as well as MYC, partly through their ubiquitination and degradation by the proteasome pathway. We also report here the preliminary results of our clinical trial supporting that a treatment by chidamide reduces minimal residual disease (MRD) in patients and is well tolerated. Our results highlight the effectiveness and safety of chidamide in the treatment of T-ALL patients, including those with NOTCH1 mutations and open the way to a new therapeutic strategy for these patients.
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